It Started with Forgetting
by only.a.word.some.days
Summary: An accident leaves Sakura with amnesia and she refuses to let another second slip by without being completely herself. She's kind and outspoken, things that Sasuke has always admired from afar. But for her own good, he could never let her any closer. Now, in their senior year, he's fighting to keep her away, while everyone else seems to be pushing them together. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Standard Disclaimer: I own the story and the writing, but not the characters themselves. This will remain true for any and all stories I post including any more chapters I add.**

We used to play these ice breaker games in the beginning of the year. One year we just sat in a circle and the teacher pulled questions out of hat. Every kid would answer the question, and you had to be honest.

"What is your favorite color?" their instructor happily chirped and looked expectantly to the boy on her right.

"Blue."

And then "Pink."

"Blue"

"Green"

I muttered out a "Navy" with my arms still crossed over my chest.

And around the circle it went until it came upon the most peculiar girl I had ever seen. How I hadn't noticed her when she walked in I couldn't fathom. Her hair was pink, though not blindingly so. It was tied back in a fashion that just emitted she simply had no time for styling it, yet the pieces that fell out framed her face almost angelically. Her eyes were captivating to the point where you forgot how to turn your head away. A color of green that does not exist in our world outside of her. Her skin slightly tanned, her voice soft but her head held high. Her body petite yet toned. Curvaceously intoxicating, but under the soft skin were practiced muscles. Her nose and her lips were perfection, begging to be touched. In that first glance at her I noticed every feature. I saw the lightest dusting of freckles across her nose and that her eyelashes were dark in contrast to her hair and eyes.

That was the first moment Sakura Haruno shocked me.

"Red." Was all she muttered, slightly amused by our answers.

From that moment on, I heard only the questions and her answers to them.

"What is your best friend's name?"

_Ino_

"How many siblings do you have?"

_None_

"What is your earliest childhood memory?"

_..._

When it came to her, she faltered. The class looked at her expectantly, finally enjoying the game as it was at least getting sort of interesting. But if you could look at Sakura's eyes you could see it was not an easy question.

"I-I was 14. I woke up in the hospital to a bunch of strange faces. A woman kept crying, her husband trying to squeeze her shoulders. As if the action of physically holding her would keep all the little broken bits from falling out." She didn't really look at anyone when she spoke. Her eyes simply seeing beyond our classroom. Back to that day. "I was told my name and my age, and that the people who were crying were my parents. I was also told I had retrograde amnesia, and after some tests and couple nights in the hospital for monitoring, I would go home with these people I did not know, to a life I did not remember. That is the farthest back I have."

This was the second time Sakura Haruno surprised me.

The class was silent after that and the new teacher didn't know if she should continue with the game to get the attention off the girl, or console her student who had obviously been through a great deal in the last couple of years.

I don't really recall much else of that day. Just that the air felt thick, and that no matter where I looked the rest of the day I couldn't find a sliver of pink.

I didn't gain the courage to talk to her until two years later. But that doesn't mean I didn't know her. It sounded creepy in a sense and if I weren't so mesmerized I would probably say that it was, but I watched. Every day, the things I should –The way she scribbled notes with her left hand, and that she always color coded her class books to her notebooks. That she wore a simple silver ring on her right hand. That her hair was straight and she would try impossibly hard to get it to have the slightest curl on special occasions. –And I watched the things I shouldn't –How her skirt hiked up when she sat, the way her lips parted when she smiled with that Ino girl. The way her one uniform shirt that was too big for her would shift when she was bored in class and show that curve where your neck meets your shoulder.

And I listened. To the things I should –"Hi Sasuke!" never 'Sasuke-kun', because she simply wasn't the type. And when she answered the teacher's questions or volunteered to lend a hand after school. When she said her birthday was March 28th. –And to the things I shouldn't. –Her first kiss was stolen by some miscreant who thought it was ok to force himself on her. And her mother was very sick. She only ever sang in the shower and long car rides. She loved mashed potatoes and strawberries but of course not together.

I waited. Because despite how normal she was, that was exactly what was so petrifying. I had dealt with hotshots before. With snarky, arrogant bastards of men who thought they had the world at their feet. Quite frankly I was one of them. My father was the founder of a huge corporation that my brother and I would take care of when the time came. I had fortune that I could spend on anything I wanted no questions asked. I was indisputably intelligent and the female population claimed my looks to be more outstanding than any photo shopped actor they had ever seen.

Sasuke Uchiha was not ordinary in the slightest. For everything I had in my desirable life was simply my reward for being emotionally stifled and short tempered. I had only one good friend and a few close enough to have seen my estate. But they were boys. They didn't care that I rarely talked or that I thought most people were too dumb for their own good.

Sakura Haruno was different. She was so accustomed to the everyday life of a lower middle class family and the struggles gave her empathy and understanding. She knew that her intelligence was gifted but not beyond reason. That every grade was the product of undisturbed hours with her books. She knew that goals could be set and worked for and achieved and that bad things happened and she was no exception. She made friends and laughed and picked flowers on particularly boring walks home. And one day, she looked me dead in the eye and smiled, not her carefree smile that I had become accustomed to, but one full of depth, saying that she had been through something hard that day, but in true Sakura fashion she would not allow the weight of it to bring her down.

That was the third time Sakura Haruno surprised me.

I had become so used to a life where powerful men whined like children and exacted revenge when they did not get what they wanted, that she was so far out of my realm. She was too good for me in ways I didn't want to imagine.

No matter how much Naruto would have made fun of me for thinking it, and God knows I would never admit that I had, I wondered what we could have been like if we were born in a different time. She a Lady and me a Nobleman. Or even both of us peasants in the dark ages, because if she was there by my side, I know I would be better than who I am right now.

Sometimes I thought of trying to bring her into my world. Of leading her through the malicious and calculated iron gates of business tycoons. Where no one cared about the good of anything, and only took steps that would put them ahead.

To an extent I thought she could do well there alongside me. She was different than them, determined yet unpredictable with an unwavering morality. She could make changes and spark new inhibitions. But there was a problem with that thought.

My world was one where you didn't show weakness.

And Sakura Haruno showed all of her weaknesses. Because in a way that I only grasped through watching her, it gave her, her greatest strengths. She didn't have time to waste on figuring out who she was and following orders blindly and being insecure. Her life started fourteen years in, and she wasn't going to waste another breath. It was something I greatly admired, but also feared. They would take everything she was, dissect it, and find the most brutal way to tear her apart, so she would never try to get back up.

Maybe she could handle it. But then again, I could never be sure, and the light in her eye, the sound of her laugh, the determination on her face, were not things I would risk.

I would not sacrifice her to a world that cruel.

I had already come to terms with the fact that my infatuation with her had gone well past the point of sanity. I didn't take pictures, or have things locked in my room or have these deep seated fantasies about her. I just simply wished she could have known me too. In years of classes together, my importance to her was nonexistent, and she would one day forget me. Yet I myself indisputably wanted her in every way.

I wanted her to jump into my arms when she got an A on the test she had spent so many hours preparing for.

I wanted her to high five me and give me that blinding grin when she scored a goal or reached the top of a new mountain.

I wanted to let her tears soak my shirt whenever she need be.

I wanted to pull her running through the rain.

I wanted to be the one she retold all of the fiction stories she read for fun to.

And I would admit, I wasn't unacquainted with the side of me that wanted to lay her down in my bed and pleasure her in every way she would let me.

I wanted Sakura to be something in my mundane existence that I would never allow her to be.

I swore I wouldn't be like the other men of my destined career. I wouldn't be selfish the way they were. She was my only proof that I had held to that.

I had already decided two years ago, that I would never bring Sakura Haruno down with me.

And in my senior year I was so close to achieving that goal.

Until the day she approached me.

"Is this seat taken?" She had her bag already on the desk beside me when she asked. I knew that voice, but I didn't want to look up to meet her eyes.

"Yes." It came out as more of a painful grunt and I looked straight ahead choosing to barely acknowledge her. If I could just get her to _go away._

"O-Oh, uhm, alright." I let out my breath as she turned to leave before she stopped and looked back. I glared at her, hoping that would be the last of our encounters. She walked away.

In the years before, Sakura and I were civil to each other. She didn't often talk to me, and when she did she was nice, and I pretended she didn't exist for her own good. It was the farthest I'd allow our relationship to go. Any closer and I would lose control of all the thoughts in my head, the facts I should know versus everything I did.

There was something to be said about the childhood idea that boys were mean to the girls they liked. Cause I would be as mean as necessary to to keep her away from me. To make her think I couldn't stand her presence. Sakura Haruno could not get close to me.

"Good morning students, I trust that you're all very excited for the start of your senior year?" Kakashi Hatake asked as he strolled in with the bell.

There were grunts from some of the class and hollers from the more excited few. Most of the class remained silent waiting for this year's game.

The games they made us play were in fact heavily pushed by the school board in order to promote class bonding and a more successful work environment. We had been doing them every year, and by now we knew everyone in our classes, apart from maybe a few unfamiliar faces who probably just phased up in the school's academic system.

"As seniors I nominate a vote." Our teacher turned to us then. "Every year you do those little team building icebreakers to get to know each other. But by now I'm sure you all know who your friends are, and don't intend on really expanding upon your selected groups. So either we use one of the items on this piece of paper" he held up a sheet of faculty approved suggestions, "or we can just have a study hall, in which you can listen to music, sleep, catch up on the summer reading you didn't do, whatever you choose."

At that the class got to talking. What he said was true we, for the most part by our senior year, had already settled in. But we also were so used to them at the start of every year, that it felt wrong to miss out on it.

"So all in favor of the icebreaker?"

A few hands went up, but unmistakably one of them belonged to the pink haired girl.

"The study hall?" And the majority of the class cast their vote. "Alright, enjoy." he muttered while pulling out a book and propping his feet up on the desk.

The students quickly rearranged desks, pulled out ipods, and chatted happily with each other. I watched Sakura look very confused and almost upset on her walk over to Ino's desk. Ino made efforts to cheer her up and the two talked about something in hushed tones.

Even Hinata, another friend of Sakura's, and a girl not known for being very outspoken made an effort to collaborate with the two.

I simply pulled out a book I should have finished for english but had yet to actually take any interest in. Slipping in my earphones and flipping the pages to my last dogeared spot I tried to drown them out of my mind.

One year left to get through and I wasn't going to blow it on anything stupid. When this was over I could find sanctuary in the secluded lifestyle of a business exec. My brother Itachi and I had been learning the ropes to running our corporation for years. And while he was obviously farther along than I am, I would still have an office and stack of important tasks to complete upon my graduation. My father didn't even want me going to college. He said it was a waste of my time and that everything I needed to know about our company was in my blood.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was well known Kakashi Hatake was the most relaxed teacher in the entire school, so I pulled it out and placed it directly on the desk. Reading through the notifications until I noticed a message from my best friend.

_This game is literally the weirdest one yet, we have to act out scenes from movies I've never even seen. _

While the idea of Naruto Uzamaki standing before his entire class scratching his head was amusing, I suppressed my urge to smirk.

_Thats probably because everything you watch is garbage._

An immediate response told me he wasn't even trying to pay attention to his classmates this year.

_Shut it, you wouldn't even know, all you do is sulk and glare at things. If I didn't come over you probably wouldn't even know what a movie was._

_That is not all I do. _But i still caught myself glaring at the phone, willing him to feel it.

_So what did your teacher pick? Anything interesting?_

_Nothing actually, he gave us a study hall._

_WHAT? How is that fair? Is he even allowed to do that? Wait so what's Hinata doing?_

I rolled my eyes at the question. Naruto just recently realized he had a thing for a certain girl in my class, but had yet to make a move. The boy was loud, brash, spontaneous, abrasive….but apparently even he was too intimidated to approach a girl of such intelligence.

Naruto wasn't in my class because his grades kept him with the slower learning students. Every class supposedly learned all the same material, but the student's phase was determined by how quickly they could grasp the concepts and the grades they got. By now you knew the majority of the people in your classes because the system had pretty much determined your phase level years ago and you've been with the same kids ever since. This is probably what Kakashi had realized already and why he thought by now we didn't need introductions to the same people anymore.

Now most kids did shift phases for at least one or two classes. Naruto actually got to come up to my class for History. His interest in world leaders, class struggle, and war heros caused him to actually pay close attention to that class. He surprisingly knew a lot on the subject and excelled in it.

_Making out with Shikamaru. You know how they were lab partners last year._

A couple minutes for Naruto's shock to set in and I finally got back: _Shut up asshole. She's not like that. Even I know that. _

I turned back to my book, ignoring Naruto's continuance of messages asking me what she was really doing because as his best friend I should be putting in a good word for him. Or when he gave me an in depth description of himself acting out Les Miserables, which he did not know was a tragic musical about rebellion and prostitution and a love triangle.

By the time our first class was over I had to physically restrain myself from hitting my only close friend over the head.

When the bell rang I made my way to Sarutobi Asuma's room for math, seeing Sakura and Ino walking just feet away ahead of me, I remembered Hinata wasn't usually in our math class. The girl was extremely smart and hard working, but her fear of getting the wrong answer often inhibited her success in the subject. She actually phased down for the class.

I saw her cousin, Neji, fall into step beside me with Shikamaru coming up on my other side. While I hung out with the two fairly regularly, I took solace in the fact they were both content with doing most things without conversation.

I snuck another glance ahead of me and for the first time I had trouble keeping my thoughts to myself. I turned to Shikamaru "Don't you and Ino have a thing?"

He glanced over at me, confused by my sudden curiosity but not caring enough to question it. As well as probably annoyed because he knew that I knew the two had been dating since last year. "Yeah, you know when she's not mad at me. That girl spends her free time coming up with annoying things for me to do with her, I swear. Then she gets mad when I complain."

"In her defense, you complain about everything." Neji added.

Shikamaru sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "She's troublesome, I'll admit, but she's also the only girl I've ever known to be worth the trouble. So I might complain a lot, but I usually do what she wants anyway."

I didn't hang out with Shikamaru alone, but he was so far my only real connection to Sakura. The boyfriend of her best friend was part of the reason I could keep up with her life. Ino was a real chatterbox, and with Naruto now pursuing Sakura's other close friend it seemed that the boy was constantly prying for information about Ino's girls night outs.

Though when Naruto did it, he got the information he wanted. I on the other hand didn't have the patience nor blunt behavior to just ask about Haruno's life.

Strolling into the classroom I sit quickly next to Neji and without even realizing it scope out where the girls placed themselves.

I had spent too long obsessing over this pink haired girl that it was beginning to become too hard to conceal.

I mentally berated myself. I've gone two years without being able to express any interest in the only girl I had ever thought about, and it was finally catching up to me.

When I first realized she was more than a pretty face to me a month into sophomore year, I convinced myself I would never fall for her. A few months later, I settled for telling myself I would never let anyone figure out I had fallen for her.

I was good at ignoring people. Girls often through themselves at me, and I kept them at bay by first glance usually. And after becoming so attached to Sakura sophomore year, ignoring them only got easier. I had something to distract myself, and I was sincere in saying they weren't my type. Because I was sure I would never feel as strongly for any other girl as I did right now, for the one two rows ahead of me and two seats to the left.

In previous years Sakura was easy to ignore, she never really tried to talk to me unless the class called for it that day, and every time she smiled, I was quickly reminded that if I truly desired her happiness I wouldn't get involved.

Uchiha's had very good self control.

Until today. I glanced again, noticing she had made her math books blue this year, and that she had tied her hair up a moment ago, and then I shifted my gaze out the window to her left.

I could do this. I'd just have to adjust my strategy.

"Well, I think we should take a little practice test to think about the proper applications of formula's in everyday life." Our teacher said, smiling broadly, toothpick between his teeth.

The class groaned as he passed out papers but he assured us they wouldn't be graded. I focused on every question, because school was the greatest distraction when I let it be.

When class ended I went through more of the same with each class. I payed attention to the students who came and went based on the class but the majority of us stayed together. Even Ino was grinning broadly as she through her arms around Haruno. She had made it to chemistry in our phase this year. From what Shikamaru had mentioned, he and Sakura had tutored her nonstop the year before so she didn't have to phase down for science this year. But despite how proud the two girls looked and even glad to have Hinata back with them, Sakura still seemed conflicted.

I brushed it off. The only class where anything particularly out of the ordinary happened was of course history. Naruto came waltzing into the room broad grin and all and shouted the moment his eyes found me.

"Teme! There you are." And then he plopped down in the chair beside me.

"For the last time dobe, quit calling me that."

"So listen teme, I have an idea this year and I need you to just go along with it." He was looking at me with that goofy grin and I knew I couldn't agree to anything he said.

I smirked and raised an eyebrow at him, "And what's this great plan of yours?"

He turned to face the door when we could hear Ino's loud voice coming down the hall. I turned away, staring out the window, finally getting back in my routine of not caring about anyone that came through that door. Especially not a girl.

"So I thought we could go dress shopping early because if we take the train we could be at the best boutiques in like an hour –" but of course she was cut off.

"Hinata! Hey we saved you guys seats!" He gestured to the three seats in front of us still unoccupied.

How did I not see this coming? Hinata's heavy blush didn't stop her from looking at Ino and Sakura who simply shrugged and walked over to where we were. The blonde obviously happy to be near her boyfriend anyway.

I clenched and unclenched my fists until I could resist the urge to pound Naruto's face into the desk. Fine. It's not like I've never been this close to them before. But with Naruto's sad attempts at flirting and Ino's constant rambling to Shikamaru, it was like Sakura, Neji, and I were the only three left to converse. And Neji was no use because he was rather protective of his cousin and made it very clear he didn't want Naruto going near her. He took the desk on Naruto's other side to join the conversation. Leaving Haruno to stare at me expectantly. She gave me a small smile and I looked away from her. Instead pulling out my phone to distract myself.

Anko Mitarashi, our history teacher was writing things on the board so I pulled out my notebook to begin copying it all down. At that Sakura just turned back to face the board, pulling out a red notebook.

Ms. Mitarashi turned to us and gestured to a huge pile of old history books covering her desk. "Everyone grab a book and get ready, were getting right to work this year."

Naruto jumped right up to get both him and Hinata a book but at Neji's glare grabbed a third to please the girls cousin.

I followed the other classmates up to the stacks, Sakura being directly in front of me, almost bumped into me when she turned around to get out of the pack. Upon seeing me however she smiled and looked at the copy in her hands, holding it out to me. My fingers twitched to accept her kindness, and in the past sometimes I did. But today hasn't been as easy as in the past so I was being extra cautious.

I reached over her head and grabbed my own from the stack, quickly turning away from her deflated look and going back to my seat.

"Grab your book and sit down. I need to talk to the class," the teacher once again urging us to hurry up and get seated. When we were all back in our respective spots she gestured to the board behind her. "These are all topics we will be covering this semester. You will each partner up, pick a topic, and present for forty five minutes on the subject at the end of the semester. You will be expected to go far beyond the information we cover in this class so pick a topic that interests you. However it is only one pair per topic so have back ups in mind in case you can't get your top choice." The whispers of people pairing up had already begun so she slammed one of the remaining books on the desk, effectively silencing us. "You will be expected to work outside of class with each other and have at least ten sources. Along with the presentation you will be expected to have a powerpoint, a visual aid, or something interactive for the class. As well as a research paper on your topic. How you divide the work is your business, but before you go teaming up with your good friends keep in mind you will be teaching the class about your topics. You will be working on this presentation all semester and it is often very stressful. Work with someone you will do well with. Who will do their share of the work, and who you won't lose a friendship with if you get into a fight. And trust me your grade will suffer if we can see your hostility towards each other. I'm not going to be your therapist. And this is one of my toughest assignments of the year. Don't slack off."

Her little speech actually proved to hit chords with the class. Everyone being much more calm and logical in whom they were teaming up with. Next to me Naruto was tapping Hinata on the shoulder. "Hinata, would you like to be my partner? I think we'd make a great pair!"

Not realizing his word choice Naruto looked baffled at the girls harsh blush. "S-Sure Naruto, I'd like that."

On my left Shikamaru was already listening to Ino happily talk about which topics she thought seemed the least boring. "And you can write the paper cause you're good with that and I'll do the presentation cause I'm great with making visuals that stand out and wow people! This is gonna be so perfect!"

It was that moment when I tensed. Naruto really knew how to fuck a guy over. I quickly glanced around Naruto hoping Neji was thinking the same thing I was. We would be good partners. Both smart and hard working. We could knock the project out in a few weeks and surely do well on it.

But Neji's back was to me. He was talking to a brown haired girl behind him. Leaning on the desk and offering a flirtatious smile, you could tell she had been interested in getting the boy's attention.

"Neji" I tried to quickly distract him. He cared about his studies and wasn't easily swayed by a pretty face. I probably still had a chance. "What topic do you wanna do?"

"I'm sorry Sasuke." He glanced at the brunette who was simply watching the situation. "I think Tensaraku here was in the middle of asking me."

"Oh please call me Tenten, everyone does." she said smiling and extending her hand to the boy. He took it and turned back to her.

I shifted my eyes across the room frantically trying to see who was available. _There has to be at least one guy._

"You know I really don't bite." I shut my eyes and faced Sakura Haruno. Usually when I avoided people they got the hint. But her humored expression said otherwise.

So I said the first thing that came to mind, "The teacher said we should work with people we can do well with." sounding extremely bored by her presence.

She felt the insult, that much you could see. but she wasn't upset as expected. She was angry. She glared back at me with as much force as she could, "Fine, I get it Uchiha you don't think I'm good enough but last time I checked our class rankings say that I'm just below you. I can pull off this stupid project. And it looks like we're both out of options so just pick a topic and suck it up." She was spitfire that was for sure. And that was a problem.

My entire body tensed to stop myself from responding. She had self respect and knew how she deserved to be treated, so she wasn't gonna take my bullshit. It was exactly part of why I was so attracted to her. She had no qualms about matching me head on. There was absolutely no way I could work with her without letting something slip. And lord knows that the way she was looking at me with her eyes fired up and her hair falling out of her ponytail that I wanted to lock the door and throw her on a desk. _No. You can't picture those things._

I turned to Ino, "switch partners with me."

It wasn't exactly a question but she wasn't surprised by my notion either. The annoyed look on her face and crossed arms however told me she didn't like it. "What is wrong with you? You're being such an ass. And besides, Shika and I already have everything planned out." She spared a look at Sakura to make sure the girl wasn't upset with her answer.

In response Sakura rolled her eyes at me. "Get it through your skull, you're stuck with me for a semester. You can hate me all you want after we finish." And then she sat down with a huff, arms crossed over her chest. She didn't talk to me about the details of the project like the rest of the class was doing, just started flipping through her history book.

I started listing the topics in the order I would want to do them in, trying to think about which ones Sakura wouldn't mind. She wasn't a huge fan of history. She used to tell Ino that she liked the stories but hated the little details we were often quizzed on.

When we finally had to report our picks to Mitarashi, Sakura didn't even look at me. I offered the History and Revolution of France and the teacher wrote it down. Sakura quickly scribbled it down as well but never turned to me. I thought she would like them. Peppin the Short, Charlemagne, and Joan of Arc would be good stories to keep her interested in the topic.

Naruto elbowed me in the side, "what the hell was all of that about? What did she ever do to you?"

I sighed. This year was gonna be the death of me at this rate. Naruto was the only guy I knew who wouldn't just acknowledge we were friends and just drop it. Of course he was gonna ask questions about either what she did to me or why I was being a dick. He had a very boisterous sense of right and wrong and liked to involve himself. "Drop it dobe."

He gave me a look that said his inquiry wasn't over but didn't press it further.

I stared at the back of Sakura's head before I realized what I was doing, shook my head and tried to focus on what the teacher was telling us.

When that failed I settled on thinking about Uchiha Inc. and my dreams for the future of the business.


	2. Chapter 2

As a rule, I pretty much remembered everything. The things I should –the Pythagorean Theorem and Ino's birthday –and the things I shouldn't –the words I hear my mom say to my father when she thinks I'm fast asleep, or the way they look at each other when I do something 'out of the ordinary.' It's just something I can't explain. It like my brain is a black hole. Just trying to absorb everything it comes in contact with.

I think it's my mind's way of filling up all the open space. Of making it up to me that it just so carelessly misplaced the first fourteen years of memories I'd made.

_"Your name is Sakura. You've had a bit of an accident…"_

An accident is what you call spilling coffee on your white dress or hitting your thumb trying to hammer in a nail.

Completely forgetting who you are? Everything you've been through? That's a fucking catastrophe.

It was easy to dwell on it. The absolute earth shattering loss you feel when you don't recognize yourself in the mirror.

_I have pink hair?_

But dwelling would have to mean that I had something better to compare the situation to. And seeing as I remembered nothing from before I woke up, that simply wasn't the case.

_I guess it suits me._

So I thought it would be a whole hell of a lot easier just to be happy with exactly what I had and take the punches of the past as they came.

Waking up in that hospital covered in bandages, surprisingly wasn't the scary part. That was two months later, trying to recognize any of the faces as I walked through my high school. Ino was with me of course. She spent every day with me when she heard about the accident. Slept in my hospital room, brought me flowers.

_"Flowers are kind of my family's thing." she said to me one day._

She was the only person who didn't make me want to tear my hair out. The only one who didn't spend every day trying to get me to remember something from the past.

_"Well if you're going to go forgetting things next time you bump your head, I say we gotta make memories that are gonna last! Those old boring ones obviously didn't make the cut!" I still remember the smile she used. Didn't reach her eyes, but she was trying._

I grew comfortable with her again quickly. She mentioned we had met the very first day of freshman year and that we were basically inseparable. That I thought a couple boys were cute but didn't plan to date any, and that our sleepovers had a mandatory button down and fuzzy slippers rule.

Ino was carefree, but sometimes you could tell when she tried to joke about something from the year before and then remembered. There would be a dimness in her eyes and a glance down before she brushed it off and looked back at me. And she would just say nevermind, and all that mattered is that we were both healthy and alive and the next memories would be way better than anything we did before.

_"Who really wants to remember puberty anyway? I say you're lucky."_

Ino was the only person who never told me the stories when I didn't look interested. She knew they wouldn't bring them back, just make me feel bad for losing something she got to keep.

But on that first day, when I tried to recall the names of all the people who waved hellos to me, I got stressed. I ran to the bathroom before class to stop the tears that gathered in my eyes. Ino hugged me and came up with an idea. Something to distract me from all the nonsense.

_"We met because you said that when we played our ice breaker I seemed like the most interesting person in the room. You said you just had a feeling and you wanted to talk to me. And poof! We became as tight as tight can be! So do the same thing this year. Pick someone, the first person who really catches your attention and just make it your mission to get to know them. I'll help of course, so no matter what you're doing something new and interacting, but it won't be overwhelming! Just don't go trying to replace me Forehead."_

And that's exactly what I did. We slipped into our sophomore year first period as the bell rang and took our seats in the circle of chairs in the middle of the room. I rattled off my favorite color and my best friend, earning a smirk from Ino. It was a little awkward telling the entire class about my amnesia, but I had vowed not to make mistakes in this do over. And there was no use in lying. It was after I told that story that I picked my person. The only one who didn't burn holes into my body with her stare when I said it.

She was timid and reserved. She didn't look you in the eye when you talked to her and she twiddled her fingers as if the action were truly fascinating. Her name was Hinata Hyuga.

Just like that, I fell right back into high school. When junior year came around my interest was piqued by a boy who just didn't care. He spent more time napping than participating and his long hair was edgy and funny all at once. The tradition continued with Shikamaru Nara.

Each person I was weirdly captivated by in that first game always turned out to be one of the closest friends I ever made. Each and every one of them understood me and loved me unconditionally. So by senior year I couldn't help but get giddy to see who would be the last of my little group. How would they change my life?

But as luck would have it, life didn't adhere to my expectations.

"The study hall?" Mr. Hatake said with an easy going glance around. "Alright, enjoy." That was all. Just left it at that and shifted his gaze down to his book. I felt my heart crack.

Slowly grabbing my things I shuffled to where Ino was looking at me with so much concern. First the blatant diss from Sasuke and now this?

Practically falling into the desk beside my best friend, she immediately started forming a new plan. Hinata pulled up on my other side and the two were hurriedly trying to toss out ideas, and trying to determine the next best thing.

"I've got it!" Ino whisper yelled to us. "So who needs the game? The principle is still the same. Who was the first person in this room you were pulled to or surprised by?"

I glanced around the room, my eyes landing on Sasuke Uchiha. I was definitely confused by our brief interaction this morning. I noticed no one was sitting in the seat next to him still. _Seriously dude?_

Ino, seeing where I was looking, just smiled. "Perfect! Target number three: Sasuke Uchiha. It'll be so interesting! He barely talks to any girl at this entire school but he's crazy hot so I bet there is all sort's of mystery there. And we have an automatic in! Shika-kun is friends with him."

"I don't know Ino he kinda freaked on me when I first came in." I could still feel the ice of his glare, the fire in his voice. As if even asking me to get lost was a waste of his time. "I don't think he wants anything to do with me."

"That's ridiculous. Sakura you're the coolest person I know. If anyone could deal with him it's you. Just be really nice, lay on the smile and a lighthearted joke and he'll fall to your feet like everyone else." She winked at me, and my protest died on my lips. I wanted to believe her.

"Speaking of which, where is Shikamaru?" I asked looking at Ino, expecting her to know the whereabouts of her beloved.

With a sharp jerk of her thumb she points to the back of the class where he is, of course, snoozing away. "I didn't want to disturb him when I walked in, we were on the phone until three this morning and the boy cannot function on anything less than thirteen hours of sleep." She rolled her eyes but her proud smirk was creeping in. Shikamaru didn't pass up sleep for anyone. Only Ino.

I glanced over toward Shikamaru, then down to where Sasuke sat a few rows in front of him. He was between reading and glaring at his phone. Maybe it wasn't anything against me. Maybe he's just having a bad day. I could do this.

The rest of the day was almost uneventful. Ino, Hinata, and I just hung out, did whatever work we were assigned and let Ino breakdown how the year was going to go for us. She was determined to have the perfect senior year.

On the way to our final class, history with Mitarashi, she was already on the subject of prom. "Limo or no limo? They're classic but overdone, plus that might not be as fun as it looks on TV. What do you think Hinata?" Hinata was the only one of us who had ridden in a limo or been to any sort of glamorous event. Her father was some sort of business man or exec or something else that paid insanely well and reaped in perks everywhere they went.

"I'm not sure, I've been in a few but I think they might be more fun with your friends." She offered up.

I thought about it, "I don't know Ino, I think we should just get a big car and drive ourselves, I don't want to rely on someone else to drive and open our doors. Besides I always feel weird asking Mebuki and Kizashi for money. The dress alone is gonna be expensive."

"Oh! I almost forgot! So for dress shopping I was thinking we could get a little funky. Hear me out, this way no one would have our dresses! I found these totally cute little shops when my mom and I were travelling last summer you guys will love them! So I thought we could go dress shopping early because if we take the train we could be at the best boutiques in like an hour-"

"Hinata! Hey we saved you guys seats!"

We stopped when Ino was interrupted and all glanced to where Naruto Uzumaki was gesturing wildly. Flagging us on to the row of seats in front of him.

Hinata's cheeks lit up quickly and she turned to us, a slight pleading in her eyes. Ino and I figured out her feelings for the blonde sometime during sophomore year so we weren't going to deny her opportunity to finally make something happen. We shrugged and I saw Ino's excitement when she noticed Shikamaru staring at her. He was always staring at her. Only when she didn't know it of course, but you could tell that there was something about Ino that really captivated the genius.

And Ino just had this way about her, It was like, despite them being together already, she still had a schoolgirl crush on him. Always smiling and giggly and bright-eyed. I heard her whisper a 'Hey hot stuff." and sit down in the seat directly in front of him.

Seeing Sasuke sitting next to Shika was like a sign. _Maybe he is the right choice. _I could feel my chest tighten with anticipation when I caught him looking at me and offered a small smile. _Think of a lighthearted joke, Ino was right. _But before I could say anything he pulled out his phone and pretended I wasn't there. _No he probably just has an important message he forgot to respond to or something._

Mitarashi was brash but efficient. She had the project details and our books to us quickly. When we were picking partners Ino looked at me and tilted her head towards Sasuke. This was my chance.

She grabbed all her stuff hooking herself onto Shikamaru's arm and babbling away. On my other side I could hear Hinata's small stutter to Naruto.

I faced Sasuke, but he was already talking Hinata's cousin and there was a drop in my stomach.

But Neji turned him down! _Still in the running! Just look over here._ I cleared my throat but he didn't hear me, his eyes were frantically scanning the room. A handful of girls were looking at him hopefully but he ignored them all.

I felt like I was running out of time so I said the first thing I could think of, "You know I really don't bite."

He turned to me slowly, bored, "the teacher said we should work with people we can do well with."

There was a moment my lips parted and my eyes widened a bit, but it didn't last. _He. Did. Not._ So that was it? He thought I wasn't smart enough for him? I couldn't hold in the anger bubbling out of my words "Fine, I get it Uchiha you don't think I'm good enough, but last time I checked our class rankings say I'm just below you. I can pull off this stupid project. And it looks like we're both out of options so pick a topic and suck it up."

Thinking it was settled, my jaw almost dropped when he demanded Ino switch so he could have Shikamaru. She denied of course, but I know had I asked her too she probably would have worked with me instead. But I would never do that either. Ino's parents didn't really understand why such a vibrant girl latched herself to such an undetermined boy. The only time they expressed any sort of approval of Shikamaru and Ino's relationship was when he was tutoring her or helping with homework. Ino boasted his intelligence but her parents didn't believe it until the skyrocket in her grades.

I could feel the planes of my face clench in anger. "Get it through your thick skull. You're stuck with me for a semester. You can hate me all you want after we finish." My arms crossed over my chest and I dropped back to my seat not even remembering when I stood up.

History was not the best of all my subjects, so I was a bit worried about which topic Sasuke would pick, regretting telling him it was his choice, but I was too angry to talk to him again.

When class finally ended Ino and Hinata quickly scurried me out of the room still heated. I whipped my head toward them so quickly they shifted back. "Who the hell does he think he is?"

"I don't know Sakura that was ridiculous, maybe we were wrong about him. There's got to be someone else in that class we can get to know instead."

"Uh, well, if you want my opinion," Hinata slowly started to say. By now the two girls had walked me to my locker and were still standing beside me. "maybe it's an act? I talked to Naruto-kun a bit last year during math, and he always talked about all the things he and Sasuke would do together. Finally one day I said Sasuke didn't seem like the type, and Naruto told me that because his family he has a strict image he must keep to. I know with my family Neji and I are constantly pressured to act certain ways and talk to certain people, so maybe he's not allowed to hang out with girls or something? I've never seen him talk to one unless necessary."

Ino's head kind of tilted in a thoughtful understanding. "Well, I never thought about it that way, but still, if he's gonna be all guards up every time you're around maybe a new person would still be best."

_"You used to get along with everyone Sakura." I was sitting at the kitchen table looking at the pictures from before the accident. Mebuki handed me another one and I set it with the rest in front of me. Just a grinning me from another life. "You had a great judge of character and everyone always told me how nice you were. Everyone came to your birthday parties and…"she trailed off seeing my confused eyes. "You really don't remember? None of it?"_

_"I'm sorry Mebuki-"_

_"Mom. Stop calling me that, I am your mother" and she walked away. The pictures were my only company._

"No," I said pulling myself back to reality. "no, I'll make Sasuke change his mind. He has to make an exception anyway, we're partners after all."

Hinata spoke up then, a small smile at my decision. Old Sakura may have been nice to everyone, but new Sakura was determined. "So we should go get ice cream or something. Celebrate the first day of our senior year?"

"Can we do froyo instead?" Ino piped up.

"What is with people and froyo?" I questioned.

"There's a difference, I think froyo is healthier and like creamier." Ino was trying to explain.

"Who cares, they taste the same." I added, and Hinata just shrugged. Ino beamed knowing that she was going to get her way. The two of them took the steps to their own lockers, packed up, and linked their arms through mine when they were ready to go. The gesture made me laugh and I thought that maybe Sasuke wasn't a mistake. Just a challenge. This would still be a good year.

The next morning Shikamaru pulled up to my door and I saw Ino reach over him and honk the horn, even though I was already waiting on the porch. I laughed throwing open the door.

"Is she giving you a hard time again?" I asked meeting Shikamaru's eyes in the mirror.

"What else is new?" At that Ino playfully slapped him on the shoulder and he pulled away from my house.

The drive to school was the same as always Ino and Shikamaru fought over the radio, I rolled my eyes, she said he was mean and slapped his arm. He grabbed her hand and didn't let go. Ino blushed and talked animatedly with me, Shikamaru only adding in commentary every once in awhile.

It really was the best way to start your day.

By the time the three of us made it to first period English with Hatake, I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. I sauntered right up to where I was rejected yesterday. Where Sasuke was sitting in the same seat. I didn't ask his permission, just pulled out the chair, sat down, and turned to him.

His body was tense and he looked away from me, "So I was thinking we could go to the library after school, the public one, I hate the one here, and check out some books maybe start working on an outline?"

He clenched his fists and turned to me then, completely annoyed. "How about I do the project and put your name on it. I'll just tell you what to say for the presentation."

I skipped shock and went right to annoyed. "Do you really think I'm gonna let that happen?"

He sighed, "Fine we'll divide the subtopics in two and you can pick which half you want to do."

"Uchiha, we're working together. On everything. Stop trying to get out of it, if you don't want to go to the library with me, we can go to your house?"

"Definitely not my house." he said harshly. "There's no need for us to collaborate the whole time. You do your part, I'll do mine, and no one gets upset." Before I had time to say anything our teacher started talking to the class. We had a warm up exercise and needed to buy a new book that we would be having literary discussion on or something. Sasuke continued to ignore me the rest of class, and I tried to shake off my frustration. _A challenge is good_. It was becoming my mantra.

When the bell rang and the students flooded the hallway I told Ino I had an idea, and that she was just going to have to go with it. Because right after that I found the seat next to Sasuke again in our math class. Ino stifled a laugh at his shocked expression and took the seat on his other side. When Neji and Shikamaru came in to see us in their normal seats they glanced at each other confused.

"Shika-kun you don't mind do you?" Ino batted her eyelashes and smiled cutely.

"Are you being troublesome again?"

"When have I ever?"

"Thats a yes." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Neji just smirked, seeing Sasuke's annoyed expression. "Come on Shikamaru, the gentlemanly thing to do is to give up our seats for two lovely ladies. Don't you agree Sasuke?"

Sasuke said nothing but the glare he gave Neji was full of fire. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and the two sat a row behind us instead.

I leaned forward making sure I could see Ino, who in turn mimicked my position on the desk. "So Ino, tell me all about dress shopping again?"

The glint in her eye told me she knew exactly what I was doing. "Well, as I said before there are all these great stores and no one knows about them. So not only will our dresses be just ours, but they'll probably be cheaper than all those big name, stuffy shops. And well I was thinking about color choices right, and I just don't know what to do. I love purple but a blue would match my eyes, and I always wear purple. But at the same time purple is like my signature color and-"

"Couldn't you two take this somewhere else?" Sasuke grunted out.

I smirked at Ino before glancing back to him, "Well you see, since we are partners and you refuse to meet me after school, we'll just have to get to know each other in class. It's a good thing we have _all_ of them together."

He glared at me hard but said nothing. I raised my eyebrows in a challenge. He didn't say anything else so I turned back to Ino, now whispering because the teacher was trying to figure out how to begin the lesson by now. "So which shade of purple were you thinking?"

Sasuke clenched his fists and put his head in his hands. I could hear the boys chuckling behind us.

Ino and I continued to bombard him in every single class. I was so glad I helped her move into our phase for chemistry this year or the plan might not have worked. We cut off Neji and Shikamaru in every class, and the guys were just going to town with the stoic boy's anger. In one class Shikamaru was already pulling out the chair next to Sasuke and Ino just sat herself down in it. His hand still holding it firmly. Neji then pulled out the other chair for me and said a kind "Ladies first of course." and smirked at the Uchiha. Hinata just giggled and followed Neji and Shikamaru to their seats behind us. When we got in trouble for talking we settled for other things. Bumping elbows, clicking pens, snapping our gum. We even flipped out hair and hit him in the face once.

Ino had a mischievous look to her all of a sudden. We weren't sure if girly prom stuff was working, so she amped it up, leaned her arms on the desk and oh so slowly smiled. "So Sakura….Did I get a chance to tell you about me and Shika's first time?"

His eyes literally bulged.

She continued, "Well you know that house on the lake my parents have, and there's the hot tub and the big comfy bed? Well we were still soaking wet from the hot tub, my hair a total mess right? And he laid me down on the bed and his hands were like magic, before I knew it they were-"

"Enough! What the hell do you want?" He snapped at me so hard I jerked away from him.

He wasn't going to intimidate me though. "Shh, Sasuke it's getting good." I looked past him to Ino and he put himself in my line of vision.

"I'll meet you at the library if you just leave me alone."

I glanced to him then, feigning confusion, "Oh well if you want to meet at the library that's a great idea. After school then?"

"Fine." He barely grunted and sighed in relief, his shoulders finally relaxing again.

"So Ino you were saying?" and we burst out laughing.

With only one period left Ino and I couldn't suppress our amusement walking to yesterday's history seats. Hinata was glad to have us back though, because she was nervous about talking to Naruto again. She was always nervous about that boy.

Which made absolutely zero sense. The boy was a sweetheart. A little bit of a knucklehead, too loud sometimes, and he didn't usually think before he acted, but I still really liked him in a weird way. Especially the way he brought out a more adventurous side in Hinata.

When the boy sauntered in, the only one of the small collection of people who hadn't been witness to Ino and my's tag team tear down, he was grinning broadly. "Hey guys! Have you missed me?"

Sasuke's dark look fully contrasted with our chuckles. I answered him through everyone's giggles, with a wicked grin still in place. "We've managed to keep ourselves entertained."

Sasuke avoided looking at me again. "Come on guys fill me in!"

But Mitarashi told us to turn to page 141 in our books and that was the end of that.

After school I didn't want to risk making Sasuke any angrier than I already had, so Ino and Shikamaru agreed to drop me off at the library so I didn't have to ask him for a ride.

Hinata met us after class saying that she had to meet up with Naruto and she was kind of worried about it. They had agreed upon her house but her father was extremely strict about both guests and boys.

"Why don't you just go to his house?" I offered closing my locker.

Ino leaned back against the locker next to mine, clutching her book to her chest and nodding with my question.

Hinata's face flushed and her stutter came back with a vengeance, "H-he, n-no,I-I. H-he uhm, his parents uh," she stopped taking a breath. "His parents passed away and he lives in a small apartment with his uncle. But his uncle travels a lot and work's late hours so he's usually not home. H-he basically raised himself." I can hear the affection coming through in her voice as she recalls the times they must have talked when she phased down to his math class. "Anyway, I don't want to just be alone in his apartment."

"Scared he might try to make a move?" I chuckled out giving Hinata a hard time.

"Please Hinata's probably scared she'd jump the boy" Ino added in. "Under all that shyness is a little sex fiend, I know it."

"I-I would never!" Her shock showing on her face.

We just laugh and start walking away from her frozen stance. I throw a quick "It's always the quiet ones isn't it?" Before she manages to move again.

Outside, we can see Naruto waving Hinata over to his car and she sends another worried glance our way.

"Hey keep your hands to yourself girl, don't want to get into an accident now do we?" Ino said giving her a wink.

We found Shikamaru close by and slid into our seats. When we pulled up to the library Ino shot me a worried glance, "Are you sure you can handle him alone? Shika and I could stay? If he gets outta line Shika will deck him."

Shikamaru glanced worriedly at Ino, "Ino despite popular belief I don't just go around hitting guys. Sasuke is an ass but were still friends."

"Sakura is a far better friend to you-"

"Guys, I'll be fine." I said pushing open the door and grabbing my bag.

"Don't get me wrong Sakura I would totally punch a guy for you, but maybe try to use your big kid words first ok? He's got a pretty sweet house and I'm not looking to mess that up." He smirked at me and I knew he was kidding about the house part. The punch thing well, Shikamaru and I did get very close last year, he's like a brother. Though I have trouble picturing him getting worked up enough to actually hit someone.

I rolled my eyes and walked up the path to the library. Letting out a long breath I opened the doors. I found Sasuke already sitting with two books, flipping through one determinedly and taking notes at a table in the far back.

Walking up to the table I asked him, "Hey what did you find?"

He glanced at me quickly, ignoring my question and pulled out the list of subtopics he mentioned earlier. "Anything you can find on these things would be helpful. I'm not the best with the Dewey decimal system."

I felt a small smile come on. It was the first non-rude or arrogant thing he's said to me in the last two days. I took the list gently, "alright, I'll see what I can find." And I did, coming back with about 10 different books. "We can only check out three at a time but I already checked and three of these have online versions and this one is small so we can make it work. I settled in my seat seat and traced the spines of the books to see where I put that one about Independence and famous war heros.

Sasuke and I worked in silence for awhile and he was almost normal the entire time. We asked each other questions and exchanged a few ideas on how we should lead into certain topics and what would we really define as the beginning and end of France's history because we were dating back to before France was even its own country.

Sasuke didn't seem angry or in pain or any of the other things I always brought on.

After what felt like hours I finally said "Alright I need a break." I rubbed my eyes for effect and Sasuke just looked over at me. "Tell me about yourself Sasuke. What are your hopes? Your dreams? Where are you going for college?"

"I'm not going to college."

That surprised me. "What do you mean you're not going to college?"

"Just that. I'm not attending any university at the conclusion of this year." He flipped some pages between his fingers absentmindedly.

"But you're a genius? You could get into any university you wanted. And that means a good job and great memories. Why wouldn't you go?"

He got stiff again as he turned to me, "I already have the best job all set up. My brother and I will take over the entire Uchiha Enterprise and I've had all the training I need. Out of high school unlike everyone else I'll already be making thousands and when my father retires I'll be making even more. The company will be in our hands soon enough, I don't need college to get my dream job. My father says it's in our blood."

"So you're not going because your old man said you shouldn't? That's stupid."

He glared at me then, "Listening to your father isn't stupid, he knows what's best for me."

"What does your company even do? Do you even like it?"

"Of course I like it! If I didn't do you think I would be going into the business?" he said in an annoyed huff.

"I do actually. I think you would do anything your father told you to do." I bit back

"You don't know anything about my family and what we do."

"I know you're wasting some God given talent and it's a damn shame that some of us are gonna be ranked lower than you but be so much more dedicated to actually bettering ourselves and being I don't know, independent."

"Do you think for a second you know anything? Maybe if you were smarter you wouldn't have to worry about your ranking so much?"

I glared at him. "Don't go trying to cheap shot me. I'm plenty smart and I work hard. I don't just get everything handed to me. No perfect job and perfect life. Maybe you'd get that if you had to try at anything in your life-"

"You two quiet down or you'll be asked to leave." One of the assistant librarians came to yell at us. I didn't realize how loud we had gotten.

"It's fine I'm going now anyway." I stood up and haphazardly threw my stuff into my bag. Taking three random books to the front and checking them out quickly I huffed opening the door outside.

Sasuke followed after me and came out of the door only a minute later. He looked at me frantically texting Ino and asking if they could pick me up early. No response yet….

"What are you doing?" Sasuke said glancing at me.

I glared at my phone. _Come on Ino!_

"Do you not have your car here?"

I glanced at him. "Ino and Shikamaru dropped me off, I'm sure they'll be here any minute."

Sasuke turned to go to his car but stopped. He sighed, "I'll give you a ride."

The look of shock on my face probably would have been amusing had he looked at me to see it. But Sasuke was avoiding my eyes, just glancing at the ground and pulling out his keys. I know he was being nice, he didn't want to leave me stranded and alone, but I couldn't help it, his change in attitude just fueled the fire. "No really I don't want to drive home in your daddy's car."

"Will you just get in already? I don't feel like picking you up and putting you in the car. Stop being stubborn."

"Oh is that how you tell girls to get in the car? I am not stubborn, just repulsed by breathing your same air for more than-"

"Stop it. Please." And I did. There was a sincerity there I don't think I had ever heard before. "The librarians are glaring at us again anyway, it's best if we go now. Please just get in the car. I'll drive you home."

I turned away and sure enough I could see the woman debating leaving her desk to come out and yell at us some more. I ducked my head and scurried to his car quickly. I hadn't even buckled my seatbelt when he revved the engine and shifted his car into reverse.

I gave him simple directions and he followed them to my house. Pulling his car up slowly I saw him shift from second into neutral as not to disturb the neighbors. "Thanks for the ride." I whispered out, staring straight ahead, still entranced by the silence we had between us. _I was doing a really bad job at this friend thing._

He got out of the car and met me at my side, pulling the door the rest of the way open as I tried to balance my backpack and step out. He walked me to my door, not romantically or kindly. Without saying a word or even really looking at me. He stopped and the porch steps and I turned to look down at him, confusion clear on my face.

He pointed at the door and said softly, "I have to make sure you get in safely."

So I nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world even though it definitely wasn't expected, and I pulled out my keys. Hearing the lock give a satisfied 'click' I opened the door and put one foot in before turning around again and repeating just as softly, "Thanks for the ride."

When I shut the door I leaned against it for a moment. Just wishing I could decipher anything that had just happened. But I was pulled out of my reverie by my phone's fast buzzing. Answering without looking I hear Ino screaming at me.

"What did he do to make you so mad! Don't worry we can jump in the car right now, Shika I told you you were gonna have to hit him!" Then back to me, "are you still outside the library-"

"No Ino I'm home, safe and sound."

"Oh, well you sound much more calm, are you alright?"

"Yeah...I'm...I'm okay."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys sorry about the late update, my friend said she would read it over for me and she just never got around to it so I'm putting it up as is. I hope it turned out okay anyway. Also I started labeling the chapters because it won't always switch from POV.**

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CHAPTER 3- Him

I was extremely accustomed to the need for ice in my life. It's a weird concept, but essentially it comes into play more often than you'd think. I've been compared to it more times than I could count. The way I act, the way I treat people, the way I look at people, and currently….the temperature of the shower I'll need to take later.

The problem started when Sakura came into the library slightly disheveled. Her heavy bag was pulling against her crisp white uniform shirt, making the material tight against her and she had unbuttoned the top button the way all the girls at school did. Her skirt, after hiking up while she was sitting in her car, had yet to fall back to its rightful length. Trying to shift my vision away from these things, I started glancing down. Because really there was nothing sexy about feet. But then I could see that her socks, usually over the knee, weren't even, and that one had slipped down and was showing more of her thigh than usual.

She had yet to see me, but _of course_ I had found her instantly. Her eyes were full of amusement and she looked like she must have been laughing. I shifted my sight back to the two books I managed to find. '_When any empire was faced with revolution, it was common the royal family were publically slaughtered as a symbol….' _Yep that was better.

"Hey what did you find?" Her eyes weren't amused anymore, slight caution had filled them but her voice was still airy and light.

I glanced at her quickly and shuffled some papers out of the way to hand her the list of subtopics I had taken the liberty of making. "Anything you can find on these things would be helpful. I'm not the best with the Dewey decimal system." I felt slightly bashful having to admit it, but I also knew Sakura spent far more time in libraries than I did, and based on the twenty minutes I had spent glaring at the shelves, I obviously wasn't patient enough for the job.

She smiled softly at the list and walked away. Quickly coming back, expertly juggling a tall stack of books. _Of course she could find that many._

She pulled out the chair next to me, not across from me, and she turned it slightly to face me. The atmosphere between the two of us was professional in nature, we took notes for a long while, and only talked about the things we read. At one point we put all of our notes between us and made comparisons, highlighting and starring as we went. Sakura continued to glance at my pages, jotting some things on her own papers and at first I tried to focus on hers too. But my eye traced where her hand was clutching the pencil, following trail up her arm, and lingering where her hair was falling over her shoulder. I clenched my hand, trying to focus on the fingers rolling into my palm and out again.

Before I knew it she was turning to me rubbing her eyes. "Alright I need a break. Tell me about yourself Sasuke. What are your hopes? Your dreams? Where are you going for college?"

I put down my pencil, muttering a quick "I'm not going to college." Then turned back to my notebook, trying to think of a way to avoid this talk.

She gave me a puzzled look. "What do you mean you're not going to college?"

People were are always confused by this, and that's why I hated getting into it. "Just that. I'm not attending any university at the conclusion of this year."

"But you're a genius? You could get into any university you wanted. And that means a good job and great memories. Why wouldn't you go?"

I imagined running through my father's office as a kid. A memory I pictured every time I thought about the structured Uchiha building, "I already have the best job all set up. My brother and I will take over the entire Uchiha Enterprise and I've had all the training I need. Out of high school unlike everyone else, I'll already be making thousands and when my father retires I'll be making even more. The company will be in our hands soon enough, I don't need college to get my dream job. My father says it's in our blood." Despite having to explain these things a thousand times they sounded jumbled and frantic. Like I was trying too hard to make my point. She was unnerving me. I focused on my hands again. Clench and unchlench. _Extend and contract._

"So you're not going because your old man said you shouldn't? That's stupid." I felt my lips tighten into a line.

"Listening to your father isn't stupid, he knows what's best for me."

She rolled her eyes. "What does your company even do? Do you even like it?"

"Of course I like it! If I didn't do you think I would be going into the business?" Why was I getting so worked up? I was used to this. _They never understand._

"I do actually. I think you would do anything your father told you to do."

"You don't know anything about my family and what we do." My fists clenched harder, the nails digging in to my callused palms.

"I know you're wasting some God given talent and it's a damn shame that some of us are gonna be ranked lower than you, but be so much more dedicated to actually bettering ourselves and being I don't know, independent." Her words were biting and sharp.

"Do you think for a second you know anything?" I hated this. What would make her to stop? "Maybe if you were smarter you wouldn't have to worry about your ranking so much?"

But she just glared at me, seeing what I was trying to do. "Don't go trying to cheap shot me. I'm plenty smart and I work hard. I don't just get everything handed to me. No perfect job and perfect life. Maybe you'd get that if you had to try at anything in your life-"

But she was cut off by an angry librarian, "You two quiet down or you'll be asked to leave."

"It's fine I'm going now anyway." Sakura was up in a flash, grabbing books, jerking her bag over her shoulder and storming away from me.

I watched her leave, slowly grabbing a couple books myself and giving her enough time to get out. I wasn't proud of my jab at her intelligence, something I knew she worked hard for. But my future, as secure as it seems, is always getting prodded at. Am I good enough? Am I smart enough? Can I handle it? I just didn't need her doing it too.

But when I walked to the doors I saw her still outside. _Why would she wait? _I shook off the part that for some reason hoped she was waiting to talk to me and figured it was safer just to ask.

"What are you doing?"

No response.

I sighed, "Do you not have your car here?"

"Ino and Shikamaru dropped me off, I'm sure they'll be here any minute." she was texting as quickly as she was capable, both thumbs frantic and not sparing me a glance.

I looked to my car, but I didn't want her in it. I didn't want that added memory. I didn't want to picture her sitting there smiling at me, changing all my radio stations and sticking her hands through the sunroof. So I took a few steps away from her. But then I saw the parking lot, and how empty it was getting. I pictured her sitting outside alone, in that stupid skirt. As much as I didn't want to lengthen our time together, I would never leave her either. "I'll give you a ride."

I avoided her gaze when she hissed, "No really I don't want to drive home in your daddy's car."

"Will you just get in already? I don't feel like picking you up and putting you in the car. Stop being stubborn." She really knew how to test a guy.

"Oh is that how you tell girls to get in the car? I am not stubborn, just repulsed by breathing your same air for more than-"

"Stop it. Please." _Just stop being mad at me. _I looked for a reason as saw the woman from before watching us through the glass doors. "The librarians are glaring at us again anyway, it's best if we go now. Please just get in the car. I'll drive you home."

Sakura glanced back to see if I was telling the truth and sure enough she followed me to my car quickly. I resisted the urge to look at her once we were seated next to each other yet again, instead just pulling out and turning when she pointed.

Pulling up to Sakura's house and cutting the engine just made the silence that had been brewing between us more prominent. I turned to her but she didn't look at me, instead focusing on something in the distance straight ahead of us. But I caught her whisper, "thanks for the ride." Before shifting herself to the door.

If nothing else, I wanted to do this right. I climbed out and met her pushing the passenger side open, grabbing the top of the door I pulled it the rest of the way. She clutched her bag in one hand and kept her head down as she took small steps past me. I caught up and stayed by her side as we crossed the lawn. When she started walking up the few steps to her porch, I stayed back. I didn't have any right to go that far into her life, so I stopped at the edge. Where I belonged. _Where I've always been. _

It wasn't a loving act, me walking her to her door. We weren't on a date, we weren't even friends. But I still had to make sure nothing happened to her. And Uchiha's were taught to be gentlemen. She stood there confused, glancing back at me, so I simply pointed in front of us. "I have to make sure you get in safely."

She nodded slightly and turned back to fiddle with the lock. But before fully disappearing behind the painted wood, I caught her repeated words from the car, even quieter this time, "Thanks for the ride." And I watched the door close.

"You're welcome." _Anytime._

I drove home and sure enough I couldn't get the image of her sitting there out of my head. The only girl I've ever driven anywhere. But it wasn't the picture I thought I would get. Not the sun beaming in and her singing with radio. It was all tense shoulders and hardened silence. A look I rarely saw on Sakura. And I was the cause of it.

When I get back home I pull in past the gates and park my car in the round about driveway. I shuffle up the stairs to my room, where the last bit of sunlight is fighting through the gaps in my curtains. I don't bother to open them, instead just going to the bathroom and pulling my uniform off.

The shower water beats down on me and I feel the heat stinging my skin, but I have no desire to end it. The feel and the sound of it drowns out everything and I can breathe easier. I picture Sakura's confused look and I can't shake the sound of her anger. _Come on Sasuke, who knew I was such a pans? _I hated how often I thought about things like this. They were nothing but useless. _She's just a girl. One who hates you in fact._

But slowly I pictured her walking into the library, the image coming back fiercely and I turned the shower temperature down. This project would kill me.

Senior year, in hindsight, wouldn't matter. It would make up not even one percent of my life, but right now it felt like forever.

I turned off the water, deciding to be done thinking for the night. I stretched myself out under my silk sheets, playing music loud enough to drown out my thoughts until I finally drifted off.

After I woke up and took a real shower, one in which soap was involved, and I made my way to school the same as every other day. But walking through the front doors I realized the fight from yesterday still had me on edge. Yeah I was accustomed to not speaking to Sakura, but it was never because of something like this. I was never involved in her emotions before.

Maybe blowing her off could only work when we had the ability to avoid each other. Now that we had to see each other regularly, I would have to do something else. Change in situation, called for change in tactic. We were project partners, so we could be civil. On my way to class I pretended I wasn't attaching myself to that idea.

Entering first period though was weird. I saw her there, sitting with Ino and Shikamaru the latter getting up to meet me when I walked in. Sakura and I looked at each other, both stares void of anything from yesterday. She broke the contact first and went back to talking to Ino. And that was it. She didn't notice when I glanced at her in class, though Naruto sure did. Elbowing me in the ribs as a way of trying to see what was wrong. I guess I really was having an off day if the class idiot could pick up on it.

School ended the same as it started. The bell rang and Sakura and I shared a glance. We hadn't said a word to each other all day, so I did what any guy crazy about a girl would do. Came up with a reason to see her. "So library?"

She held two books to her chest, not feeling like opening her bag to put them back. I'd seen her do it before. "Oh uhm, are you sure? We can work on it another day, I wanted to work on math anyway."

"I can help." Apparently my old habit wasn't having a hard time dying. Helping with homework was something friends did.

She blinked away her surprise and smiled slightly. "Well, if you're sure, I guess we could do some history and if we have extra time maybe you could go over some of the math problems with me." I let out some sort of nod and grunt before Ino successfully dragged her away from me.

I caught Naruto at my locker looking about as disordered as always. I ignored him putting in my locker combination.

"Teme, would it be weird if I asked you and Sakura to come study with me and Hinata at her parent's house?"

"Yes."

"But-"

"No, I'm not working on the project at the Hyugas, that doesn't make any sense."

"Sasuke, you're my best friend, and need I remind you that that means you are expected to uphold your duties as my wingman?"

"You need a wingman for a study session? Maybe you need more help than I thought."

"Dude, I need an army with her angry father and his employees breathing down my neck! And to make it even worse Neji just comes in and sits between us anytime we start to talk about anything other than history. Come on, just come! You can distract them a bit."

"I'm not a sideshow dobe. Just work at your place."

"Are you serious? Not only would her dad probably hunt me down, but just me and Hinata alone in my house? I'm not trying to freak her out! And my uncle leaves the weirdest shit lying around."

"Then go to the library. That's where Sakura and I go."

His eyes lit up. "That's a great idea! And you'll be there to wingman and Hinata always feels more comfortable around Sakura!"

"No. Sit at a different table. Some of us actually care about the project."

"Yeah and some of us care about wooing the future mother of our children."

"So Hinata's the mother of your child now?"

"Well we'll never find out if I can't even ask her out!" I rolled my eyes.

"Fine sit at our table but don't think I'm wingmanning anything"

Naruto didn't say anything, just grinned at me.

By then Sakura was nowhere to be found and Naruto was already calling Hinata to suggest the ingenious plan of working at the library, so I made my way to today's study session.

Pushing open the library doors for the second day in a row, I noticed Sakura already sitting with a book about French culture on the desk, and more interestingly a novel in her lap. Something she plucked from the fiction aisle I'm sure.

"What are you reading?" I asked pulling out the chair next to her.

She jumped the tiniest amount but I still caught it. Meeting my eyes I saw how hers were an even darker shade of green today. "Oh, well it's nothing really, just something that looked kind of interesting." She flipped it over looking at the cover and then put it down on the desk and turning back to me. "Hey can you watch my stuff? I wanna head to the restroom."

I nodded and she got up, disappearing behind thick shelves. But I wasn't sure what to do in her absence. I pulled out my history notebook and looked at the things she had starred on my pages. The ones I needed to compare to her findings. She wouldn't mind if I pulled out her notes too.

So I grabbed the red notebook from her bag and started flipping to her last pages.

_'I worked at the library with Sasuke on our senior year history project. note: Joan of Arc was a badass and you like her. Sasuke and I got along for a little while but of course it ended in a fight. He drove me home, walked me to the door. That was pleasant. Not exactly nice, but not malicious either so I guess that's something.'_

Wait what? I checked the notebook again. It was red, but not her normal spiral bound red notebook for class. This one was similar, but slightly smaller, and it had a darker red abstract image printed on the front. I traced the swirls and edges with my finger trying to recall if I had ever seen it.

"What are you doing?" the shock on Sakura's face made me drop the book instantly.

"I was looking for your history notes-"

"So you read my journal?"

"Well," What could I say? I did read her journal. "Yeah."

She sighed but didn't get angry. "Well don't do that. I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"It's not like that, it was an accident."

I could see she didn't believe me, but she sat down anyway not saying anything else on the matter. Placing it back in her bag, she pulled out the correct red notebook and handed it to me. I was saved from any other awkward exchange when I heard a familiar voice.

I looked up and saw Naruto approaching our table, the dark haired trailing behind him slightly. He pulled out the chair across from me, beaming as expected "So what'd we miss?"

Hinata smiled at Sakura and took the seat across from her.

"Nothing, we just got here." Sakura said with ease, returning Hinata's smile.

The dark haired girl relaxed and Naruto looked at me.

I handed Sakura back her book no longer that invested in what I was looking into before, and started flipping open one of the hardcovers I had been reading through yesterday. I was hoping Naruto would take the hint that I was in fact not in the business of dealing with him and was only here to study. But of course where Naruto lacked Hinata excelled.

She unpacked a laptop and was typing away effectively pulling Naruto's attention. He leaned over her and wrote down the ideas they talked about. Every once in a while when Hinata started overthinking and stuttering again, Sakura was there to mention something funny or bring up a story of something wild they did a long time ago. A few words from her and Hinata was back to herself. Something about Sakura gave Hinata this incredible spirit we had never seen before. She spoke to Naruto with confidence and laughed without reservation.

Sakura kind of had that effect on people. Like when they were confronted by her presence, and how real she was, they were compelled to do the same.

After a couple hours of research and prying open Hinata's shell she spoke up. "Oh, I hate to have to do this but I promised my father I would be home for dinner tonight. He insisted Neji come pick me up and he's almost here." Slowly closing her computer and looking at her phone again the two of them start clearing their half of the table.

"I could take you," Naruto said standing up. "Or at least walk you out."

Hinata smiled at his offer and Sakura stood up to hug the girl. Right, girls said goodbye like that. But when Naruto grabbed his stuff too, muttering something about not wanting to work without Hinata, I didn't understand why he was turning to hug Sakura as well. He squeezed her tight and I couldn't help but stare. What was he doing?

Letting go with a big grin he turned to me and stuck out his hand. He could see the look on my face and I saw his smile dropping, but grabbed his extended hand and did some form of a handshake that all guys do. This time when they walked back through the doors though, Hinata was next to him, smiling and chatting quietly.

Sakura sat back in her seat returning to her work tiredly.

So I took this time to finish what we started earlier, "What's with the journal?"

She must have known it was coming because she just said, "Oh yeah, sorry about calling you an ass."

"You called me an ass?" I questioned, causing her to turn her head to me.

She shut her mouth and clamped her lips together thinking for a moment. "Which passage did you read exactly?"

"The one about yesterday." I could feel my eyebrows drawing together as she continued to think.

"Right, well uhm nothing, I was just making notes about my day."

"Why?"

She shrugged, "Honestly?"

I continued staring at her and she took that as a yes.

"Well, the older I get, the more scared I am that something else will happen and all of a sudden I won't have any of these memories either." She touched her head gently. "When I woke up the first time it was terrifying. If I hadn't had Ino, lord knows what I would have done. And in the future there's no guarantee I'll have anyone. I just want to be prepared. Just in case."

I nodded once and she just turned back to her work. "We've been doing history long enough. Do you need help with math?"

She looked at me kindly, "sure that would be great." exchanging her books and placing them between us we went over a few of the harder problems in our homework set. Not that I was even needed. All she forgot was to divide by B. She wrote her formula down wrong in class, so once it was corrected, It was just me watching her do her homework.

I glanced around looking for a distraction. Seeing her long forgotten novel on the corner of the table I reached around her picked it up and began looking through it. "You like mysteries?"

"Don't be so surprised, I like trying to solve them."

"I guess I just pictured-"

"Romance novels? Most people do. And I do like romance. I like a lot of books. It depends on what I'm feeling."

Time ticked my slowly, but she was finished her math homework and I was looking for something else to say. "You don't have any other homework you need help with or that you want to work on?"

"I need my computer to finish my chem write up but everything else I did in class."

She started putting everything away. No more colored pens or doodled pages and I actually felt anxious. Like I was running out of time on our first real day as friends. There were so many things I wanted to ask her but none I could without her wondering how I knew what I did. So I let her pack up in silence.

She turned to me then, plucking the book from my hands and putting her feet on the lower rung of my chair. "This one's a murder mystery. All about this famous guy who loses the love of his life and is on a mission to find out what happened. The public thinks she overdosed but he knows she wasn't that kind of girl. But being famous he has both advantages and disadvantages. Like everyone's willing to help him and he has all these resources, but he's constantly under scrutiny and the more he delves into her death, the more the public thinks he's losing it. In my opinion, he kind of is. I think that's the coolest part. Like you believe him, that she didn't overdose and there's someone behind it, and you want the public to believe him too. But the longer it takes him the more he falls down this path of self-destruction."

I watch her eyes light up and her smile grow between words. I noticed the way she talked with her hands and just how pink her lips are today. But then I narrow my eyes "I thought you said it looked interesting, but the way you're talking about it I'd say you've already read it."

She smiles and blushes, completely caught in the act and just laughs, "well, sometimes I like to reread certain parts."

"Must have been a good book." I feel a smirk on my lips and can't hold it back for the life of me.

She doesn't say anything else about it, just hands me the book. "Maybe you should read it sometime if you're bored." And then checking the time, "I should get going but thanks for helping me. I actually had a pretty good time."

Before I knew where it was coming from the words slipped from my mouth, "Do you need a ride?"

She stopped putting her books away and said, "No I brought my car today in case things got ugly again."

The girl really had a way with blatancy. One of those things that was easy to respect about her. I appreciated she didn't want to sugar coat things to me, but I couldn't help the twinge I felt. "I'm sorry I insulted your intelligence."

She brushed it off, zipping up her bag, "You were just angry." As if that made it ok.

Leaving the library much more peacefully this time, we walked side by side until separating to our cars in different rows. But just before she opened her door she spoke up again. "I'm sorry for calling you an ass. And a lot of other colorful things." I guess she could see my confusion and added, "two passages ago. I wasn't sure if you got to that one, but just in case you did, I was wrong."

She got in her car and I did the same. And from my rear view mirror I watched her pull out and drive away. I sighed and took out my phone to check for any missed calls. Just a couple text. One from my mom saying they were probably going to be away an extra two days at some business conference and one from Naruto.

_I have a great idea! _ He loved to open with that and it's pretty much how I knew not to trust him.

I didn't ask, just typed, _You wanna come over for dinner? My parents are away until Thursday now and Itachi has a date or something so he's not coming over. Might as well order in. _

_Dude be there in like 2 minutes._

And I fear that maybe he was in fact there in two minutes, because when I pulled in Naruto was already waiting outside leaning against the side of his car. Holding a grocery bag. _Fuck._

I got out of my car suspicious, "What's in the bag?" Though I had a pretty good idea.

"Your favorite." His smile only growing.

Naruto only brought tomatoes when he knew I was going to be really mad. "What do you want?"

"Hey just hear me out, I think that today at the library was fun." He said raising his hands in defense.

I glared in response, not falling for his bribery.

"And you saw how easy it was to talk to Hinata with Sakura around. That girl is a saint."

My glare got harsher.

"So I may have mentioned to Hinata that you and I wanted to invite her and Sakura to grab dinner and catch a movie or something with us."

I could feel my hands clenching again. "Why the hell would you do that?!"

I was furious and Naruto could tell. It was rare I raise my voice over anything. "Come on, all you have to do is show up! It's no big deal!"

"I'm not taking Sakura out on a date. Do you hear me? I'm not going to do this. Go alone."

"I need Sakura there! Why do you care so much? What did she ever do to you anyway? You're always so uptight anytime she's around and it doesn't make sense. She's nice, she's funny, and she doesn't take shit from you. That automatically puts her in my good graces, so could you be a pal and just do it."

"You have no right to sign me up for this shit." I snapped.

"I'm your best friend, and you're supposed to be mine, is this seriously that big of a deal?"

His happy demeanor was slowly shifting and he was getting inquisitive. So I did what I always did. Said whatever I had to. "I can't stand her. Make me discuss French battle tactics with her fine, but make me pretend I give a shit about how she likes her meal? No fucking thanks. She's a waste of time."

"Come on she's like one of the few girls at our school who both doesn't throw herself at you, and that Hinata will talk to. The plan is perfect! I don't even see why you care, if it's about money or something its fine man I can cover this time."

"You're an idiot, it's not about money, it's about pride, I don't even want to be seen with her!"

"Now you're just-" And he stopped. Tilting his head slightly he looked at me hard for a long while, replaying my words in his head. I shifted trying to think of anything to say as minutest passed by. And then he says the words I had kept at bay for years. "You like her?" At first a question, but then more sure, "You like her." He hardened his gaze on me.

I forcibly rolled my eyes, ripping our locked eyes apart, knowing my words might betray me. "Don't be ridiculous-"

"Shut up." He growled and took a step forward. "Tell me the truth Sasuke, you like her don't you? That's why you make such a big deal of everything. That's why you're so pissed right now. That's why you always look at her in class." I could practically see the wheels in his head going. "God that's why you glared at me when I hugged her today. Admit it you like this girl."

I looked away from him trying to think of anything that would make him believe otherwise, but I didn't have the energy to fight him on the subject. Or maybe I just didn't feel like hiding it anymore. I stared hard at the ground. "I can't take her out."

"Why? What's the big deal in you actually caring about another human being?"

"You don't get it Naruto. It's too late for that."

"Quit being so dramatic, you two just got off on the wrong foot. She might like you too if you try being nice to her." But when I didn't answer he just looked at me hard. "Unless there's something you still aren't you telling me Sasuke?"

I sighed, walking past him and opening my front door. He followed me in, both of us dropping out stuff in the entry, and shuffling into the family room. He continued to stare at me expectantly but said nothing. I thought about how quiet it is in the house right now and it almost makes me regret telling the cooks not to bother while my parents were away. The maids were surly finished for the day, and that left the absence of washing machines and vacuums. Finally I sighed, coming back to Naruto just a few feet away. It was about time I told someone. "I don't- I don't just _like_ her."

His eyebrows draw together, and I wasn't sure if he knew what I meant. "How long have you felt this way?"

"Since sophomore year." I sat on the couch with my elbows on my knees. Squeezing and relaxing my fists again. Naruto was used to the gesture and didn't question it.

He sat back. "Am I a shitty friend or what? It took me this long to realize."

"I didn't exactly make it obvious."

"Well why didn't you tell me? If you're stuck on the same girl for a long time usually you let your friends know. How many other things have you kept from me?"

"Just that." _Clench, unchlench. Clench, unchlench. _"She was my only secret." I turned to him, "And she needs to remain that way."


	4. Chapter 4

**I hate to do this but I've been sick so this is unedited so it's a little weird, but I hope it makes sense and you like it anyway. And for all the romantics I hope it's enough for you. Sorry guys!**

Chapter 4- Her

When my alarm started blaring at five in the morning I told myself that really it was all just some cruel joke and of course I wasn't actually expected to get up. But seeing as I had tried that same excuse every day for the last two weeks, I was confronted with the harsh fact that this was indeed my life now.

"One" I gripped my sheets tightly. "Two." I squeezed my eyelids together. "Three" I throw the sheets off my body and use my free hand to practically roll myself onto the cold floor. "Ugh, why is it always cold in here?" First things first, get the light on.

Once I manage to flip the switch and blink my eyes into adjustment I turn to the pair of running shorts and a t-shirt I have sitting on my chair. Pulling off the overly large shirt I sleep in and quickly squeezing into the sports bra and athletic clothes I give my bag one last glance for all the necessary items. Seeing my school uniform and my toiletries stacked neatly on top of a couple books, I grab a protein bar from the kitchen and head to my car.

It was a well-known fact preseason morning workouts were hell. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and the dew on the lawn made my running shoes squeak with every step. After the twenty minute drive to our fields, I strolled in with the rest of the sleep deprived varsity soccer team. Despite how ominous it always felt walking to a workout, the high school equivalency of your doom, there was a serenity to being here before school started, before anyone came to disrupt it.

When I took a seat to pull out my shin guards my coach piped in with, "No guards today, full body workout."_ Figures_.

We started fall training two weeks ago, and so far we had yet to even touch a soccer ball. Our coach had a firm belief that if we couldn't control our bodies, we would never be able to control the ball. So far our schedules revolved around intense workouts and team bonding. So I through my hair up in a high ponytail and tightened my shoe laces. Once the rest of the team was ready to go, we did a warm up lap and the other captain and I lead the team in stretches before begrudgingly reporting back to our coach.

"Well good morning ladies," He started, glancing down at a clipboard of today's training schedule. "I hate to say this, but" he didn't hate to say it. "Get on the line." And the groaning multiplied.

After 10 X's, and a multistation cyclone that lasted an hour and a half, we ended with some good old fashioned suicides. Sweat poured from our bodies in the growing heat and I wiped my face for the hundredth time with the bottom of my t-shirt. Finally finished, I bent down to grab my water bottle from my bag and gulped what was left of it savagely.

I sat down to pull off my running shoes and as I tugged at the laces a hard body fell on top of my lap. "How do you manage to always pull ahead at the last second?" Tenten, my cocaptain, was a tall brunette, and she draped her torso over my legs forcing my focus to her big brown eyes.

Throwing her arm over her eyes she added, "I mean really, you're like the size of my leg."

I laughed and pushed her off playfully, "Come on, I am not that short. Now get off you're all sweaty."

"No Sakura, you don't think you're that short, but let be honest, you're like five feet on a good day."

I rolled my eyes, used to her dramatics. "I am a proud 5'2, thank you very much."

She finally grinned and pulled herself off me entirely. Sitting next to me she reached for her bag and we both chatted while we recompiled our stuff and headed for the girls locker room for showers.

After scrubbing my body clean of any grass stains and sweat trails I started pulling on my uniform. Why had I chosen tights today instead of knee socks? These things were impossible to put on even when my legs weren't wet. I finished toweling off my hair and dragged a brush through it. I saw Tenten in front of the mirror, parting her hair down the middle and pulling each side expertly into two matching buns. She had an entire package of bobby pins between her lips and I smiled at the sight. People would never know how much effort that particular style actually took.

I ran my fingers against my scalp, trying to get some air between the strands. Taking a final look in the mirror, Tenten picked up her bag and met me by the door.

"How are the buns?" she asked me pointing to her hair.

"Great, and your hair isn't bad either." I winked at her and she barked a laugh.

"You're one to talk Haruno." But she kept smiling as she pushed open the door and we made our trek up to first period.

"Hey at least we're finally awake." I said again while she complained about waking up early as she did every other day this week.

"I mean really we can't do after school workouts like normal kids? And come on we aren't even in season yet, it's blasphemy for anyone to expect me to get up for practice tomorrow morning. It's a Saturday!" She complained a lot, but when it came down to it Tenten loved soccer and she'd do just about anything for us to win championships this year so I never took her seriously.

We parted ways on the second floor and I found Ino by my locker checking her nails.

"Hey there piglet." I said, spinning my combination into the lock.

"Do you want to get manicures this weekend? I feel like my nails are being eaten by the monsters that are my cuticles."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile at her, buying in on her comment. "Ino, maybe if you were nice to them they wouldn't take revenge on your nails."

She smirked up at me, her nails forgotten. "But being nice isn't my strong suit. So how was practice?"

I shut my locker after switching out a few subjects and I filled her in on my morning on the walk to English.

"Ugh, how do you give up that much sleep every day?"

"God you have never sounded more like Shikamaru" her eyes widened at my comment and we chuckled at the thought.

"All I'm saying is cheerleading is only afternoons, and we don't even start really practicing until winter. Football season is just a minor part of the job. Tournaments don't get in full swing until spring anyway. And the team would totally take you."

"That's just because you're the captain."

"Well yeah but you can do almost all the stunts, and you already know like half the routines.

That makes you better than some random freshman."

Ino tried to get me on the squad two years ago when my parents mentioned my brief gymnastics career and we decided to see how good my muscle memory was. I could still pull out a few stunts but I didn't get the same thrill from it that she did, so I turned her down every year.

"Just promise you'll be at the preseason tournament? You and Shikamaru both, I still have to invite Hinata too."

She smiled, "Babe, we wouldn't miss it, don't stress." And I didn't, because this was Ino, she'd make it happen.

The closer I got to the end of my day the longer the classes seemed to get. I just needed to get out of last period before anyone had time to talk to me. But when the final bell rang, Sasuke turned to me expectantly the way he has every day this week. And as I have every day this week I pretended not to see him and turned away. It wasn't that I was mad at him or anything, but I had been blowing him off pretty much nonstop since last week. Every time we're supposed to work on our history stuff I cancel, which I know looks bad, but I have my reasons. Along with training for our soccer tournament, I also have been narrowing down colleges, trying to get a jump on my applications, and debating on whether or not I want to slip in a second attempt at the SATs . I did well the first time, but I've heard your score goes up by two hundred points just by taking it the second time, and well, the better my score means better colleges. Better colleges mean easier acceptance into medical school.

And then there's also that other thing I've been doing.

Uhm not giving Hinata an answer.

Last week she happened to mention that Naruto and Sasuke apparently wanted to take the two of us on a double date. I told her I would think about it, and she's been patient, but truth is Hinata wants the date with Naruto and as her friend I should do anything to give her that. But really? As much as I want to sit through an awkward pity date with Sasuke, because we both know he's only doing Naruto a solid by taking me out, I don't want to ruin things between us.

We've been getting along lately, but that's when we've been working on our project. Things are easy when the only conversation is about fighting styles and monarchs and other stuff neither of us will use in a few years. Our real conversations have been limited, and I'm not sure if we could handle a full evening together. If the date goes bad, lord knows Sasuke and I will be right back to square one. Where he glares at me and makes noises instead of using his real words.

I tried to scurry my way out of the room before he could get to me, but I only made it mere feet away before I felt his hand grip my elbow lightly and I had to turn around.

He had a smirk on his face, something I had only recently been able to wrestle out of him. "For the record, I thought I was the one avoiding working with you. When did the roles switch?"

I couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his change in character, "Sasuke, I'm not avoiding you, I just have a lot of things to do."

He crossed his arms, "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Seriously, between college apps and preseason training I'm barely getting enough sleep as is."

"We need to do well on the project, failing history definitely wouldn't look good to any university."

There was nothing I could say, so I just went with, "Well that doesn't mean it needs to be done today. This week is just really busy for me. I even have practice on Saturday." I failed to mention it was a morning practice, but still.

"Fine, then when will we be working next? Seeing as you're the one with the busy schedule."

"I'm free all day Sunday." I'd have to face him sometime.

"What about Saturday night?" He raised his eyebrows, challenging me silently.

To prove I wasn't avoiding him I said, "Fine, I'm free then too, but I figured the mighty Uchiha would have plans."

He was silent for a moment before saying, "Sunday it is then." But instead of turning away like I expected him to he just continued looking at me. "So you never gave Hinata your answer."

My eyes widened noticeably. He didn't just ask me about the date did he? Hinata would be as patient as I wanted, but the Uchiha was another story. I should have known he would call me out.

Frantically I stuttered, "I, uh, I told you I've been busy."

"You're free Saturday night." I fell right into that one.

Trying to regain my composure I raised my gaze to meet his full on, I was too far in to bail out now, so I did what any self-respecting woman would do. I faked some confidence and pretended it was all my idea. "Yep, so I guess Hinata and I will be seeing you two then. Pick us up at my house, and don't be late." Then I turned and resisted the urge to slap myself. I just got played by Sasuke Uchiha, and he wasn't even the one who wanted the date.

Ino and Hinata waited by my locker, already finished getting their things. Ino saw me first,

"What took you so long forehead?"

"I got cornered by Sasuke."

Both exchanged a look, "So spill, what happened? And why do you say it like you're bummed?"

"He basically tricked me into seeing him this weekend."

Hinata spoke up this time, "Well, isn't he the last ice breaker friend you wanted to make? Isn't it be a good thing he wants to hang out?"

"It's not a friendly hangout. He got me for studying Sunday, oh, and you and I," I pointed between Hinata and myself. "have a double date tomorrow night. The guys are picking us up from my house. I told them not to be late but didn't give them a time so I don't actually know what time they plan on showing up."

Hinata's cheeks turned ferociously red in her shock. "W-We, Y-You said yes?"

Ino put her hand on her shoulder, "Breathe girl, you'll be fine."

"B-But I don't have anything to wear, how should I do my hair? Where are they taking us?

Should I wear a dress or jeans? What if I don't know what to say?"

"Slow down, we can text the guys and get basic info and times later. It's kinda short notice so give them a few hours to make some plans. And I'll be there all night and if you feel uncomfortable Ino knows the code word."

"Yep! Just text me the word 'kiwi' and I'll get you two out of there." She smiled reassuringly holding up her phone with the statement.

Hinata seemed to calm down but her eyes were distant and I know she was still worried. Ino and I looked at each other gain. I touched Hinata's arm, pulling her attention back to me, "Hinata, Naruto wouldn't have asked you out if he didn't already like you. And trust me, once someone realizes how great you are, they just love you more and more every day."

Ino nodded along and added, "Besides, you know I'll be there to do your makeup, and make you look even more gorgeous, he won't be able to turn away."

Hinata tried to paste on a cool demeanor with a small smile, "Th-Thanks guys, I'm sorry for freaking out."

"Please, a five minute freak out over a date with the guy you've been head over heels in love with for forever is nothing to be ashamed of. Can we talk about the real elephant in the room here?"

I looked up and the ceiling knowing Ino was going to get unnecessarily dramatic, but Hinata, still not used to her behavior, looked at her worriedly.

"What's wrong Ino?"

"How great would it be if both of you started dating Naruto and Sasuke and then the three of us could go on triple dates! Me and Shika need couple friends!"

Hinata looked confused and I just smirked and shook my head. I grabbed Hinata's arm and pulled her with me away from the blonde, who in turn laughed and rushed to catch up.

_Personally I thought the elephant in the room was that our code word was still kiwi_.

Nothing after leaving school Friday was able to distract me from the thought of Saturday night.

Not my college applications, or the sleepover/movie night at the Hyuga's, that Ino absolutely insisted upon so she could go over date tips and outfit ideas with Hinata. Not even the three hour practice we had Saturday morning where the sun's rays beat down on us and the coach finally let us work on simple passing drills.

The movie the boys were taking us to started at 9:10, so they made dinner reservations for 7:00, and they planned on picking us up at 6:30. I know because Hinata had left me at least seven messages while I was at practice, and I had to call her back to reassure her that yes I would be picking her up on my way back and of course she could spend the night at my house after.

And when Ino joined us at my house hours later, I decided it was safe to leave two alone and I jumped in the shower. I shaved and scrubbed so my skin was soft and used my favorite apple scented shampoo and conditioner to try and lighten the heavy feeling in my chest.

Stepping out with the steam and drifting into my bedroom, I realized Ino had taken the liberty of picking an outfit for me and laying it neatly on the bed with a few accessories. The navy cotton dress was strapless, with a slight sweetheart neckline and it flowed from my waist. I'd worn it before to family parties and other meaningless things. It was a simple sundress, no extra patterns or colors, but I loved the way it felt to wear it. She had set out my dangly silver earrings right on top, with a pair of cute silver sandals to match.

Next to the outfit was Hinata's dress. A cute spaghetti strap dress that was white with light blue flowers and a sash across the waist. Ino had given her one of my necklaces to go with it, and I saw the low white wedges that could only be Ino's. They had only a one or two inch heel, but they would be perfect on Hinata.

When I glanced over, Hinata's hair was already in a twisted ponytail, with her bangs and few stray pieces framing her face down. Ino was dusting her lids with eye shadow and I could physically feel how real tonight was becoming. I wasn't sure I could do this anymore, but Hinata was smiling and Ino winked at me and I knew that there was no way I could back out now.

So I dried off my hair while Ino ran brushes across the brunette's cheeks. "Hinata just remember to smile, you've got great lips and cheeks."

Hinata stared at herself in awe when Ino handed her the little mirror she had with her and I couldn't help but smile. She looked beautiful.

Ino turned to me then, a devilish look on her features. "For you my sweet, I think I have finally figured out how to do the impossible." Pulling out a few bottles from her bag she grinned at me.

"I'm getting your hair to curl."

And an hour and a half later, she unleashed yet another bout of hairspray on my locks. "Ino are you trying to kill us? Hinata open a window before we suffocate!"

"You'll be thanking me in just a few more sprays." She spritzed the liquid plaster all over my hair one more time and walked to my front to look at my hair. She broke out into a grin. "Sakura, I'm a genius." That was all she said and then she immediately started on my makeup. She muttered to herself in the process, "You've got insane eyes, I need more mascara." And I wondered why I was even letting her go through all this work when Hinata was the only one who mattered tonight. But when everything was finished I had to admit, if nothing else, Ino was a genius. The hard part over, we put on our clothes while Ino expertly packed up her salon. Each bottle and brush with a particular place.

"Alright final checks!" she demanded and we turned to her, hair falling loosely over my shoulders and Hinata all smiles. "Damn we are one hot group of ladies!"

The three of us laughed and Hinata and I walked Ino to the door, hugging her goodbye and telling her not to have too much fun with Shikamaru while we were gone.

She crossed the lawn with a "No promises!" There was a blue eyed wink and some giggles and I made a mental note to buy that girl some condoms for her birthday.

Hinata checked her phone again and frowned. "Sakura, it's already 6:30, the boys do know where you live don't they?"

"Yes Hinata, there's nothing to worry about."

She chewed on her bottom lip anxiously, "you don't think they would have, uhm, you know, stood us up right? Or what if this was a trick? Or a big misunderstanding?"

I halted her thoughts with one hand. "Don't go getting all crazy, there is nothing to worry about. I promise, they'll be here." But for seven minutes I held my breath until they finally were.

The enthusiastic knock at the door made Hinata jump, but I got up to answer it with her standing beside me and in turn, right in Naruto's direct line of sight. His eyes widened when he saw her, and he battled with his tongue to form a coherent sentence, "Holy, wow, Hinata you're so pretty, I mean you look so pretty, well uh not that you aren't pretty by yourself but I just uhm, I really like your dress."

The tips of her ears were burning with a blush and I had to clench my jaw shut just to stop myself from laughing. This was straight out of a movie. When I looked past Naruto's embarrassment, I noticed Sasuke leaning quietly against the door frame, his arms crossed and his eyes boring into me with intensity.

My breath hitched and I was wondering just what he was seeing. But before I had time to get self-conscious, I realized Hinata hadn't responded to Naruto and had yet to meet his eyes. "Did you need to grab anything?" I asked her gently grabbing her arm.

She glanced up at me and shook her head slightly, and then turned back to the boys and smiled.

I locked the door behind us and Hinata stayed close to my side. I recognized Sasuke's sleek black car in my driveway and noticed the space where my parents' car usually sat was still empty. They were helping my aunt move into a new house or something this weekend and they would be home in the morning, but I was still slightly offended they didn't really ask if I wanted to go with them.

Naruto opened the back door of the car for Hinata and she gave me a pleading look, so I got in first so she could follow. Forcing both boys to sit up front. Hinata sighed, giving me an embarrassed smile and I squeezed her hand reassuringly. When I looked up I caught Sasuke staring at me in the rear view mirror but I turned to look out the window almost instantaneously. I wasn't ready to do my job yet, so I listened to the radio and enjoyed the scenic twenty minute drive into the city.

But when we pulled into the parking lot of one of Konoha's nicer restaurants, I took the time to look at Sasuke and Naruto's chosen attire. Naruto's blue collared shirt and tan pants next to Sasuke's dark green and black combo were too clean cut for anything outside of the city limits.

We weren't at anything overly extravagant, no formal gown needed, but it had a pleasant aura about it. This nice airy, paradise, whose walls left your worries at the doors. Looking closer when we got inside I fell in love with the atmosphere. Adorning the thick wooden beams of the ceiling, were expensive little bulbs dangling on almost an invisible line. All around the room were hints of small flowers flowers, and the rustic metal furniture brought out a wave of sophistication. The lights weren't low in the way other places had dimmed them, but instead they just glowed, radiating serenity. It was a place designed for escape and fantasy. It undoubtedly must have been a strategic decision on Sasuke's part, in order to make Hinata forget about her barriers. But there was a small part of me that I would deny ever existing that wished it could have been for me too.

The four of us were seated quickly, a reservation with the name Uchiha probably had the staff on high alert all night. Despite Sasuke's belief, I actually knew more about his family than he thought I did. Only simple stuff that I heard in passing or noticed in the business magazines my father always brought home. On rare occasions I'd flip through them looking for coverage on events I knew Hinata had to attend, but for the most part my knowledge relied on little tidbits my father mentioned at dinner when he tried to convince my mom to invest in something. It made me realize that the Hyuga's probably had far more in common with Sasuke's family than I had thought, and it was likely she'd been to a million places like this before. We sat quietly, a waiter taking our drink orders for us almost immediately. The table was quiet until he came back, delivering everything to their proper place and getting ready to take his next set of demands. He walked away and the awkward atmosphere had yet to break. Naruto just kept picking at invisible things on his shirt and Hinata played with her fingers. Time to get to work. I turned to where Hinata was seated at my right trying to determine what would be a good way to start to the evening.

"So Hinata, do you come out to a lot of nice places like this?"

"Actually I've been to this restaurant once before."

Naruto's face contorted with a look of pure panic, frantically listing off other restaurants we could go to instead.

She put her hands up in defense, "Oh no, I really like it here, it was a great choice," she smiled at him gently, easing his worries. He smiled back and asked something about a conference her father went to that she must have mentioned to him when they were studying.

And that was all it took to ignite the flame that was Naruto and Hinata. It burned slow but it burned steady, and it grew in the moments that passed by. He fired off questions and she stumbled around answers to them. Maybe it was the atmosphere and the pretty lights, or how excited and genuinely interested Naruto seemed in what Hinata was saying, but their conversation started to come easy. Naruto told us stories about the trouble the two boys would get into, and Sasuke would add the important details that Naruto missed. Hinata mentioned funny things that her family did and events she went to, and I helped her through the parts she was having trouble getting out.

Sasuke and I caught each other's eyes across the table, but we never spoke directly to each other.

But as Hinata and Naruto got deeper in conversation, their attention began to shift from the group to just each other and their voices softened. So Sasuke, not the most talkative anyway, and I said less and less, until we were practically forgotten. I caught his eye again, but this time was different. When I looked over he was already looking at me, and suddenly I didn't know what to say.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance, because before I could think of anything, our waiter, whose name I failed to catch, had returned with an extra hand from the food runner. The latter of the two placing the heavy tray on a stand and waiting patiently as the waiter set down our plates accordingly. But in contrast to our waiter who turned away, the brunette man behind him took a step closer.

He had a boyish grin but he was clearly a couple years older than me, and despite working in such a nice restaurant there was mischief in his eyes. "Sakura! Long time no see, what have you been up to?"

I didn't recognize him, but that wasn't exactly uncommon. I stared deep into his eyes wishing that somehow that would make a connection, a neuron would fire and all of a sudden I'd get some sort of image or feeling, but nothing. I must have looked confused, but if I did he didn't seem to notice, "Oh, uhm, just school work and soccer."

"Oh you did stick with soccer? I thought you were going to quit?"

_What?_ "Uh, no, I really like it. I'm the captain at Konoha Academy."

"But what are you really up to? You know, I still remember that bonfire we went to at the river, and you were so drunk, trying to convince everyone to go skinny dipping. It was so much fun.

You were getting so wild!" He gave me another heart stopping grin, but it wasn't the kind of heart stopping he wanted. I felt like I was going to vomit.

A desolate silence wrapped around us like a blanket, thick and chokingly tight. "I-I, what?" I could feel my horror take physical form and seep its way into everyone, and he finally seemed to notice that my body was shaking and I couldn't catch my breath.

"You don't remember? It's me, Kiba? You remember my dog? Akamaru? I was the guy with the motorcycle?" He stared at me, and I felt stupid for not remembering someone I seemed to have some sort of history with. His head tilted and his eyes narrowed in thought. "Oh, so the rumors were true. You really don't remember anything." The way he said it wasn't caring or sad, just a statement. A harsh reality, that I had come to terms with.

"R-Rumors?" _Other schools heard?_

"Thanks for bringing the food" It was Sasuke's monotone voice that cut through the tension. "But if you don't mind, I think my date prefers to focus on what's in front of her." He was so collected that I forced my eyes toward him.

He was giving Kiba a look I hadn't seen before. It was different then a glare or a challenge, two things I had become accustomed to, but more of a melted together version of both. Everything about it screamed authority, and its command was clear.

_Leave._

So he did, with a "Nice seeing you again, enjoy your meal."

But I couldn't eat. The pasta in front of me made me want to hurl, and my body was stiff with chills. Sometimes, though rarely, people other than my parents mentioned things about my past.

None of those instances however, had ever implied I was anything short of an angel. I know previous Sakura couldn't have been perfect, but I had always thought she was close. That her problems lay in how she was scared of bugs or the dark and she didn't eat meat or something else that seemed ridiculous to me. But now she was someone entirely different, and I had absolutely no idea of everything she had done.

_Brush it off, keep moving forward._ I fought to regain entrance into my reality. For my head to take over and slow the pounding of my heart. Why was I even here again? And I remembered Hinata sitting next to me and how stunned everyone still was.

I grabbed her hand reassuringly and smiled to the table, "Well I guess that was this evening's entertainment for the night. A glimpse into the Sakura that once was." I pushed out a laugh that was partially sincere. There was a twisted sort of humor in the fact that these things really only happened to me. But I continued, "But seriously Naruto I hope you picked a movie that can compete with that. What are we seeing anyway?"

He answered cautiously at first, trying to get away with just giving the title of the movie, but when I asked what it was about and then asked Hinata if she'd seen the trailer, the two loosened up again. The conversation was less intimate but it was nice. A meager distraction for me to cling to while I completely avoided my food.

And when that didn't work, I put my best effort to denying the feel of Sasuke's stare burning into me.

When dinner was over and we had made it to the second segment of our evening, I was relieved to have a storyline based diversion. About thirty minutes in, with Hinata and I sandwiched between the boys, Naruto decided to make a move. His arm coming over the back of the shy girl's chair casually. And 1.3 seconds after that her hand gripped my wrist so hard she cut off circulation. I pat her hand a few times and tried to pry her fingernails from my skin.

The movie was some action type mystery and after another hour we were in the middle of some big interrogation scene where the male protagonist was tied up with a gun to his head, and the female lead was screaming and pleading with the bad guys. The scene was average, just a run of the mill bad guy threating a loved one to get the information he wanted kind of story. But as she fell to the floor clutching her head, shrieking through her sobs, her words wouldn't leave my head.

_'I can't remember! I can't remember! Please! I'd do anything. Please!"_

I knew this scene, from all the nights it had been me on the floor of my bedroom. The earthshattering idea that you lived all these years, had all these experiences, and now none of it mattered. It all just withered away. _She must be a great actress, it's hard to fake hopelessness._

I felt a feather light hand grip mine and I turned to where Sasuke was staring at the screen. But his arm was extended between our seats, and it was then that I felt a tear carve the rest of the way through my makeup.

_Like I wasn't embarrassed enough_.

But his hand, however small the touch, made me feel rooted to sensibility and a sort of calmness set in. So I sat, Hinata's nervous hand biting into mine, and Sasuke's gentle one comforting me. It was an odd combination, but when the movie ended an hour later and both of them retracted, I realized just how perfect it had been.

When we pulled up to my house again a little after midnight Naruto sprung to open Hinata's door and he walked her to my porch. The only space between their bodies was just enough room for their whispers. I opened my car door slowly, Sasuke already leaning against the driver side watching me.

Standing in front of him I felt small, I looked down at my hands slowly intertwining my fingers together and then apart. "Thanks." Was all I could get out, but it felt so unfinished. Like the period were really a comma and there was something I hadn't said. But what could I say? Thanks for handling my near breakdowns tonight that was pretty sweet? How many times would he drop me off at my house and I would be at a loss for words?

He glanced over his shoulder, seeing the two lovebirds still talking and then back to me. His eyes watched me, but this time with something softer in them. "Sakura, you don't need to get so worried about people hearing about your amnesia? Especially not us. We've all made mistakes, you're lucky enough to forget yours and start over. You're an amazing person, no matter what you did before."

I guess I was just emotional from all the night's events, or maybe tomorrow when I'm updating Ino on everything I'll claim I was just insanely tired, but I felt vulnerable and Sasuke was standing right there, so I told him something I had never told anyone. "It's just…see most of the time it doesn't matter what people say about me because it's just meaningless details I probably would have forgotten anyway. But with that guy, with Kiba, he made one of my biggest fears come to life. That I was never as perfect as everyone thought and I didn't know the half of it. That I did have some dark side or rebellious side or something worse, and that there would be people who saw me and despised me or judged me for reasons I would never know. Sometimes it just feels like someone stole my face and ran around, and left everyone with all these expectations that I can never meet. And usually I found comfort in the idea that everyone thought I was just an average happy little freshman that hadn't really gotten to know too many people. But the idea that the old me had some freaky wild side is something I never thought I'd have to confront. I don't know the old me at all, and I guess after this many years I felt like I at least could define our similarities and differences. But now I see that there's always going to be things I just don't know about. Parts of myself that other people go to keep and that I had to lose."

I guess I had started crying again, because Sasuke raised a hand, his fingers just under my ear, brushing the base of my neck, and used the pad of his thumb to wipe away some of the moisture. He smiled, an actual genuine smile. It was small but it was meaningful and he whispered, "Just be you, those old memories have absolutely nothing to do with who you've become. And I can think of a few people who love you, this you, exactly as you are. Maybe losing your memories was a blessing in disguise, you may never know, but if there is anything I've learned from you Sakura Haruno, it's how to make the best of a situation."

His words made me want to cry more. To clutch his expensive shirt and force myself into his body, so close that our molecules would bind together and he'd have to hold me forever, but I knew he wanted me to stop crying, and that Hinata was probably wondering what was taking us so long, so I bit the inside of my cheeks to stop the tears and dragged my fingers under my eyes a few times until the trace of them was muted. All of Ino's hard work ruined.

I did hug him though, it wasn't overly long but it was close and I squeezed his chest to mine in a silent form of gratitude before turning my back to him and digging my keys out of my purse.

The good news is that Hinata and Naruto were still chatting when I met them at my door, so I guessed they hadn't really noticed how long I had been absent from their presence. I unlocked it and took a few steps through the door without looking back so the two could have a last moment of privacy.

When she shuffled in a moment later with her entire face read and she couldn't stop twiddling her fingers I had to raise my eyebrows at her, and my suspicions were confirmed when she stuttered out, "N-Naruto-kun, he, he kissed me." Her grin was blinding.

I pushed her up the stairs before she could melt sappy love goo into my carpets. Forcing her to get ready for bed, we both lay in bed and she went on about how romantic and wonderful everything about it was. I responded when I should, because honestly, most of the time when it's about some sort of emotion the girl just want to talk so you can listen. It's not a conversation, just as close to reliving it as she's going to get.

I smiled at her excitement, I had never been happy for anyone as much as I was for her. Hinata was one of the most kind and good natured people I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. She always upheld her duties to her family, despite her father's perpetual disapproval, and she worked hard in anything she set her mind to. If anyone deserved a sliver of happiness it was her.

But when she got drowsy and rolled over with her gratitude and goodnight, I slipped my eyes shut, and let my thoughts drift back to a certain project partner of mine. To his tall athletic build and the way his hands felt against my skin. To how I loved the hunter green shirt he wore and the smell of his cologne. To a boy I swore to befriend. All of a sudden I wasn't so sure friendship was what I wanted. I might not be able to stop there.

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**Please take the time to review! It really does motivate me to update faster!**


	5. Chapter 5

**So I reread chapter four remembering I had left it unedited, I am so sorry dear readers that you had to endure that. Please forgive me. What's even worse is I only edited part of this one but since I'm updating so late I figured it was best to get it out there. This chapter was a little weird to write so I hope it still makes sense in the story. Sorry for such a late update but please tell me what you think!**

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CHAPTER 5- Him

I saw the last bit of navy and pink disappear behind her white washed door and I slid into the driver's side of my car once more.

_Could I have been any more obvious?_

I felt both my hands ball up and put them to my temples and leaned my elbows against the steering wheel for support while I thought about my stupidity.

_Could I have been any more obvious? I'll just get a fucking tattoo. 'I'm madly, insanely, irrevocably, indisputably in love with Sakura Haruno and just gave her my manhood on a platter.' Yeah that'll do just fine._

I didn't hear so much as feel Naruto plop into the seat next to me. But he didn't say anything for a few beats, waiting for some reaction from me I presume. When I didn't move he sighed loudly with an "Ah what a night! I kissed her man! And she didn't faint or run away or gag or anything!"

Despite my current state of confusion that made me look up and I smirked, "I realize this must be a new experience for you, but normally, the goodnight kiss isn't supposed to induce sickness."

He threw me a half-assed glare but kept smiling anyway. "Shut up man, you can't bring me down, did you see Hinata in that dress? I mean, oh man, I never realized what she was hiding under those button downs! And she was so cute you know? Like she's always been like adorable but I never knew she could be adorable and sexy at the same time."

I rolled my eyes. "I never thought I'd have to hear you say the word adorable more than once in a lifetime and that was twice in one sentence."

"Come on Sasuke stop being such an ass, you had fun tonight admit it" He punched me in the arm as the punctuation to his sentence.

I started the car and pulled away from the curb, but I couldn't stop the images that kept flashing behind my eyes. I imagined walking up to the door before Sakura pulled it open, and the tightening in my chest that came immediately upon one glance at her. How eloquently she spoke and how she always knew exactly what to say. How insanely jealous I was of the idiot at the restaurant who knew her. And how selfless she was, that while dealing with all of her emotions during that, she still managed to put Hinata first and get the date back on track and pull us all out of the awkward moment. I pictured her steady gaze during the movie and God just howsoft _all of her skin is. _I figured it was in my best interest to just not respond to Naruto, and I wasn't even sure what he had said anymore. But he took that as some small victory and grinned the rest of the ride back to his place.

Pulling up to his complex he got out quickly but lingered by the door, holding it open for a moment before asking, "You wanna crash here tonight? My Uncle never cares, and the guy is gone like every other week, I'm not even positive if he's up their right now."

I glanced up at the tall black building with its modern structure and the windows that were always cleaned until they shined. It was nice as far as condominiums go, and on another night I would think about the offer. But instead I said, "Can't man, Sakura's coming over to work on the project tomorrow still and I haven't exactly gotten a chance to tell my parents. You know how my dad is about guests."

"More like how's your mom gonna be? Did you see her face when we said we were going on a date? Sakura's gonna be the first girl you bring home to the parents."

"I'm not bringing her home to the parents, were working on the project. French culture is unlikely to be mistaken as affection."

"Keep telling yourself that bro, but you've got it bad, and you're starting to slip up." He smirked and shook his head as he closed the door and made his way to the complex's revolving one. I rolled my eyes, despite his building having two perfectly good regular doors, Naruto always used the one that spun.

But on the drive home I couldn't help but turn his last words over in my head. To an extent they reminded me of how I would describe a disease. _You've got it bad. _We've retrieved your diagnosis and it seems your infection just keeps attacking your systems. Physical symptoms could range anywhere from making your chest tighten and your breathing shallow to your untimely death, I'm sure you've read the case study of Romeo and Juliet. Not to mention an inability to think straight and in your particular case an uncanny engrossment with all things pink. Go ahead and get a prescription for losing your mind, because once you've been infected, it's all downhill from there.

Yeah, I had it bad.

I didn't see anyone when I shut the door upon entering my hosue, and laying in my bed I could practically feel the quiet settled in beside me. The only noise was the sound of paper hitting palm as I laid on my back and tossed the crumpled sheet above my head for a few minutes. It was a habit I had picked up while Sakura was avoiding me and I would lay here trying to think of possible reasons. Tonight however, I kept thinking about how insane this entire ordeal has become. It doesn't make sense to go from two years of avoiding someone to wanting to declare your love for them every time you see them right?

But I guess the difference between when I was first 'infected' and now, was it had finally managed to corrupt my brain's ability to process and think. Because I didn't see the harm in it anymore. I wasn't hesitant or wary. I was accepting it, enjoying it even. Trying to plan everyday around the quickest path to her. The best way to get her to talk to me. Love changes how you see the world, from the inside out. It makes you happy and adventurous, and it makes bad ideas seem like good ones, and eventually it drives you to do anything until someone, but not just anyone, loves you back.

I caught the paper ball with one hand just before it landed and pulled the crumpled sheet open, reading the two words I had scrawled on it before coming to my senses and balling it up. _'Dear Sakura,'_ This one had been with a dull pencil, the marks barely able to be seen.

For some reason I've written these two words five different times, and every time I only get that far before I realize what I'm doing and I stop myself. But part of me wants to write it all out and give it to her. Finally spill the truth I've kept hidden from the one other person it belongs to and just pour every bit of my insanity into a physical item. But that would just freak her out. Plus I'm not a coward, if an Uchiha needs to say something we say it. I've thought of making it an actual letter. Of dropping it in her locker one day anonymously. Then I could wait until were finished working together to tell her it was from me. Or I could just never tell her and be happy knowing at least I wasn't bottling it up anymore. The possibilities seemed endless and the thought of all of them made dizzy.

I crumpled the paper up again and placed it on my bedside table, where I had been leaving it since I wrote it. Then shut out the lamp, rolled over, and faced whatever image of Sakura I would see once I closed my eyes. This time it was of her crying, pressed so close to me I could feel her breath. I couldn't stop thinking about my hands in her hair, _it finally curled_, and her tears on my skin. I could still feel all of it and my fingers twitched trying to remember. I was holding her face in my palms, she was inches away from me. I could have kissed her. The selfish part of me wished I had.

But when you've waited this long, might as well wait a little longer, for the right moment. Last thing I needed to do was confuse her any more than she already was. I don't want her to think of how she was sobbing and I just grabbed her and planted one on her. It wouldn't be the best memory, and what if she thought I'd only kissed her because she was upset? Or something worse.

What if she thought I was bad at it? It would be my first kiss, and hell I would rather kill myself than ask for tips from Naruto. _Dear fucking lord I've lost it._

I pulled my pillow over my head until I couldn't hear myself think anymore and I guess the emotional exhaustion finally took over.

Did you ever notice how you wake up early when you're excited for something? Because at a prompt 8:17 am I rolled over to check my phone and groaned out the time. I quickly came to terms with the idea that, that was as much sleep as I was getting and I heaved myself up and to the shower to start my day.

I finished getting ready by pulling a blue tshirt over my head and running a towel over my hair a few times. Pulling my phone from my jeans the time read 8:31 and I had one message from Naruto asking to borrow my notes. Well, I could surly find something to do until I heard from Sakura. We hadn't decided on a time for today but I figured afternoon was implied. I imagine the two girls stayed up talking about the night or some other equally feminine thing and probably wouldn't even be awake for hours.

I opened my door quietly, everything about my house was always quiet. Even when Itachi still lived here we weren't the rowdy brothers people were used to. We respected each other's space and privacy, we had conversations sometimes, but we were always busy with something, and our maids strongly discouraged any sort of rough housing. Sometimes I would challenge him to card games or other stupid competitions and he would win swiftly and then retreat back to his room but that was as lively as we got.

My feet glided across the hardwood floors and our stairs barely made a squeak, but no matter how silently I could move through the house my parents always knew when I was lingering in the doorway. So coming up to the dining room I wasn't surprised to see my mom already turning to greet me. My father sat at the head of the table, newspaper tight in his grip and steaming coffee in front of him. My mom was next to him enjoying some sort of pastry the cooks had prepared and was smiling deviously.

Getting right to the point she asked, "So Sasuke, how was your date last night?" The glint in her eye was overpowering her normal kind gaze and I had to look away. Taking the seat opposite her, someone was already placing a plate of eggs in front of me and I tried to distract myself with the food.

"It was fine, really just for Naruto's benefit. He was too nervous to ask out a girl so I had to go with him so the affair seemed more casual."

She didn't stop smiling at the brush off. Just added, "So what was her name anyway? You two boys raced out of here so quickly I didn't get a chance to ask any of the standard questions. Where did you take them?"

I had yet to learn how to make my mom drop a subject. "Just a restaurant in the city, it wasn't a big deal. Dinner and a movie, as cliché as it gets." I took a bite of dry toast. And gulped down orange juice but her gaze never wavered.

"I'm sorry I missed the name?" She smiled gently but I knew the trick by now. I also knew she was far too persistent for me to keep avoiding.

"Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuga."

At that my dad came to attention. "You took out a Hyuga?" His face didn't show anything for a moment and I thought about correcting him. But then he said, "Not a bad idea. The Hyugas have always been well respected."

Part of me wanted to mention that Naruto was the one who had feelings for the Hyuga, and I in fact was infatuated with a no name to the business world. But the name Haruno meant nothing to him, and I kind of liked that. It made me feel like I wasn't betraying my silent promise to her: To keep her away from his people. I hadn't actually mixed the two yet.

My mother spoke up again, "I think I remember her, she came to some of last year's events didn't she? Oh yes she's lovely. Both her and her cousin are very smart."

My dad took a large gulp of his coffee and added "Yes, Neji Hyuga is going places. He's extremely bright and is very determined much like your brother was at that age. I wouldn't be surprised if he inherited the business over the Hyuga girls."

And just like that the conversation wasn't on me anymore. Itachi came up so of course there were better things to talk about. They talked for a while, about Itachi's high school days, and how they wished he still lived here. Then they spent some time explaining their most recent conference to me and saying it was such a shame my brother couldn't make it. I tuned out after that for a while until my parents came back to the present and my mom asked me another question.

"So Sasuke, any plans for the day?"

I wiped my mouth and put my napkin down, here goes. "I've been meaning to mention, my project partner for my history assignment is coming over. We'll be working on it for a bit. We're getting close to finishing up with all the information. Then we just have to write the paper and organize the presentation."

"Sounds wonderful." She said, but I could tell she was disappointed I didn't have anything more exciting to do. She loved entertaining my friends, and yesterday with the idea of me being interested in a girl made her giddy. Homework was not the least of her concerns today. She was always insisting I have a party for the kids at school but I never agreed. "We'll be going out for a few hours to meet some people but I'm sure we'll see you for dinner."

I excused myself and went to go try and be productive until Sakura managed to contact me. I worked on random assignments for an hour, but didn't get particularly far with anything. I checked my phone again but still nothing. I thought about texting her, but after last night I thought it was best to let her decide what she wanted to do. She might not even want to see me. I didn't scare her away did I?

I laid back in my bed and turned on my stereo. My parents had left half an hour ago, so I turned the volume up until it was screeching through the entire house, bouncing off the walls and shaking the furniture. No of course I didn't freak her out. It felt so good to have her that close to me. It wouldn't have felt like that if she was secretly wishing to back away. I would have noticed. I told myself that a few more times.

At about 10:30 I finally got a call from Sakura. Of course she called, texting wasn't straight forward enough. I smirked at the thought. The only teenager who picked up a phone anymore.

_"Hey Sasuke! I just got up, I have to talk to my parents and drop off Hinata, but then I'll be over. Do you need me to bring anything?"_

_"No."_

_"Well okay, can you just text me your address then?"_

_"Okay."_

_"Alright, goodbye Sasuke."_

_"Bye."_

Needless to say it wasn't very exciting. Plus as usual I couldn't form real sentences around her, so she probably thinks I'm a jerk. Great, nothing out of the ordinary then.

I texted her my address and went back downstairs with a new purpose in mind. Seeking out a few people I poked my head into various rooms until I found who I was looking for.

Yuri was the head maid, she was practically in charge of me growing up, and now it felt weird to ask her to do things for me. I still had the image of her telling me to eat my vegetables and threatening to beat me with her shoe when I ran away from the table. Itachi always ate his vegetable and did as he was told. I was a little harder to train.

I found her fluffing pillows in the sitting room and dusting the wood furniture and the grand piano. "What is it Sasuke? You don't seek out anyone unless you need something."

She faced me firmly. She was shorter than me, though not by much, and she had a round face. I had spent a lot of time glaring at her when I was young. Always angry she told me what to do, but mostly that she wasn't my mom. My parents were often away or busy, so I blamed Yuri for it. As I got older I realized that wasn't the case, and my mother was around more so I was better behaved. My mom and I got closer, but so did Yuri and I.

After all, when I got my first A, Yuri was the only one I could find coming home from school. She took the test and hung it on the fridge for all the staff to see.

Now I had to look away from her, embarrassed to have to do this. "I have a friend coming over soon, just to work on a project, but do you think you could put fresh flowers in the family room? Maybe light a candle or something so it smells nice? And fluff the pillows a few more times or something. I want it to look like we actually use it."

Her gaze went from questioning to knowing after an extra moment. "Ah, you have a girl coming over." But before I could say anything else she added, "Don't worry, I'll make everything look more like a home. I'll get a few air fresheners too." She tapped me on the cheek twice with her palm and smiled. "I'll make it good for you. So don't mess it up."

The literal meaning was for me not to mess up all her hard work on the room. But the look in her eyes, the arch of her eyebrows, the understanding smile, told me she meant not to mess it up with the girl. I figured it was safest just to nod and I made my way toward the kitchen. One down, one to go.

The kitchen, despite us almost never actually using it ourselves, was a spacious area with all of the latest and greatest in cooking technology. Our cooks made almost everything from scratch. I found our head chef looking through a few old pages, probably his old family recipes, trying to decide what he wanted to make us for dinner.

"Hisharu," He looked up at his name, standing to greet me. "Do you think you could make snacks? I have a friend coming over."

"Is it Naruto-san? I could make some ramen-"

"It isn't Naruto."

"Oh, what would you like then sir?" He asked me politely. I had never really gotten as close with the cooks, so it was always much more formal asking them for favors.

I tried to be nonchalant, "Doesn't matter. Something sweet."

But he knew better than that. "But you hate sweets sir?"

I rolled my eyes, hoping he couldn't read me as well as Yuri. "My uhm, my friend likes them."

He smiled at me gently and I was relieved to get out of this one unscathed. But when I turned to leave he spoke up. "I'll make something for her than."

My shoulder's tensed but I kept walking. _Could everyone tell?_

When Sakura finally knocked at 12:27 I had already set up all of my notes and my computer in the family room. I added extra colored pens for Sakura and a couple glasses of water just in time to hear the door. Yuri had done as promised, the room was brighter and cozier. There was a pleasant aroma in the air from the flowers and the sunlight poured through the open windows. The kitchen smelled of something fruity and all the help were whispering about the sudden changes.

I ignored it all and pulled open the door. Standing in all her glory was Sakura Haruno, clad in bright running shorts and a baggy tshirt. Her leather flip flops were worn and her hair was in a messy ponytail, the curls washed away in this morning's shower. She was the most informally dressed girl who had ever passed through my doorway, but I couldn't stop staring at her.

She suddenly got nervous and looked down at what she was wearing, stuttering to explain, "I-I figured since we were just working on the project and it's just so hot outside today, I uhm-"

"You look great." I told her, stopping her stuttering. "I'm probably going to throw on basketball shorts, it is pretty hot." I wasn't really warm, and I almost always wore jeans around the house, but I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, and besides I was trying to convince her normal people lived here.

"Oh is this your friend?" Yuri came from behind me then, pulling the door open wider so Sakura could come in. "Well aren't you pretty, my my, Sasuke never mentioned he went to school with such a lovely young lady. What's your name dear?" She smiled to Sakura who returned with an embarrassed blush.

She smiled back at Yuri sweetly and extended her hand, "I'm Sakura, thank you, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yuri." She offered, taking Sakura's hand. It was weird, I don't think anyone I had ever met had introduced themselves to one of our workers. They definitely hadn't shaken their hand. Usually they brushed by Yuri on the way in, but the two were chatting happily. They turned to me expectantly and Yuri spoke up first "Well I'll lead you to the family room while Sasuke goes and changed. He had to run out this morning before it got so warm out." She lied for me smoothly.

The two walked away and I took the stairs two at a time. When I was in my room I pulled out the first pair of black basketball shorts I saw and switched into them quickly.

Sakura was already typing away with her computer perched expertly in her lap when I made it to the room. She looked completely at home against the dark blue cushions with one leg tucked under. She smiled again when she saw me and I had the briefest image of placing her computer on the coffee table and placing her on her back, before deciding that was wildly inappropriate and looking away from her completely.

I sit down next to her pulling out an extra book to lean on and she turned to me with bright eyes. "Your home is so pretty, thank you so much for having me over."

"No problem." I say, but I want to add, 'so how did you sleep? Did you dream of me? Would you have been pissed if I had kissed you cause I really really wanted to.' She had already turned back to her computer and I glanced down at her light pink lips.

Then I heard the deep sound of Hisharu clearing his throat and we both looked up. He looked at me as if trying to stifle a laugh and I glared back at him. He walked in carrying a plate of fruity tarts and his famous raspberry thimble cookies with white chocolate drizzled over everything. "I hope you like sweets, I prepared these and thought you might want a few." He said looking down at Sakura.

"Wow, everyone is so nice here." She smiled at him while he placed the tray on the table gently. "And these smell amazing, thank you so much, I hope you didn't go to any trouble."

Hisharu looked at me while he responded, his eyes fully amused. "They were no trouble at all. Especially not for someone as delightful as you." He obviously had wanted to see the girl who had me so nervous and now he had.

She stood up and his gaze shifted back to her, "Well thank you, my name is Sakura." And she extended her hand again.

He smiled at her and shook her hand gently, "Hisharu, the head chef."

He left quickly after that, and Sakura and I were undisturbed for a few hours. We worked silently for most of it, but eventually we both decided we had finished the bulk of the work and should focus on organization. We spent another hour determining which order would be the easiest to understand. Sakura would often call in Yuri or Hisharu trying to get their opinions and making jokes about how she would have to act out her information for the class to ever understand it.

The other maids took this as a sign to open up the other rooms as well. They opened all the doors, added flowers or opened windows. Drew back think curtains and beat the dust from old furniture. The house was filling with light and laughter and energy for the first time I could remember.

We kept working and decided we would both work on the paper and the powerpoint equally. I started making slides and she had already written the introduction and the first couple paragraphs of our essay. When we had trouble remembering information or the order we wanted the other always stepped in, bouncing off ideas or offering better word choice. We had decided that when we were both finished we would switch and edit the other's work. I could add structure and balance. Sakura was creative and captivating, so in collaboration on everything, I didn't see how we could fail.

Sakura took another cookie and we were still laughing when I heard my mother's heels clicking on the hardwood. Sakura hadn't noticed, but I knew the subtle noises when my parent's returned home. And apparently our laughter had alerted them to where we were because both of my parents appeared in the doorway looking down at us quizzically.

Sakura, noticing them for the first time jumped up to greet them. She stuck out her hand for the third time today with a bright, "Hi, my name is Sakura, thank you for having me in your home, it's so wonderful."

My mother was the first to shake her hand, a thoughtful look for a moment as she placed the name and then a smile worked its way over her features, "Sakura Haruno might I presume?"

"Yes actually, I supposed Sasuke has mentioned me before then?" She smiled back at my mom again, who in turn shifted her gaze to mine with a look of understanding. She had figured out which date belonged to whom after all.

Sakura turned expectantly to my father than, and unlike most people, she looked him in the eye and smiled. "Pleasure to meet you Mr. Uchiha."

Surprised by her confidence he took her hand without a word before turning to look in my direction. By now I was standing and his eyes took in my new attire for a moment before coming back to the moment and he saying, "I thought your partner was a boy."

Sakura's eyebrows drew together and she turned to look at me. I didn't want her to take that the wrong way, "No, I supposed you assumed as much, but as you can see Sakura is very much a girl."

Sakura turned back to my parents in confusion and my mom placed her hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Well, would you like to stay for dinner? Our cooks are fantastic, and it will give us a chance to get to know you better. It seems you two have been spending quite a bit of time together."

"Oh, I couldn't impose-"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Smile. "So we'll tell Yuri to set an extra place at the table then?" Done deal.

Sakura blushed but didn't waver under my mother's gaze. "If you insist, then sure, thank you."

I glared at my mother, it hadn't actually been a question, though it was phrased like one. She would have thought of a way to keep Sakura here if she had to, she was good with persuasion. She was a businessman's wife after all.

Both of my parent's left then, neither mentioning the new look of our family room, even though there's no way for it to have gone unnoticed. Sakura walked back to the couch, taking her seat once more, and being the kind person she was, never mentioned how odd my parents were. Not even my father's rude comment.

But now that they were here and our moment had been ruined, I yearned for another connection to her somehow. A reason to get her talking to me again. So before I had any more time to think I said, "Sorry my parents can be a little weird. What's your family like?"

She turned to me, her eyes cautious but thoughtful. "Well, it's just me and my parents, I don't have any siblings. But my parents are good people. Kizashi is an Office manager and Mebuki cleans teeth. They love each other very much."

She wasn't really looking at me anymore, instead turning to doodle in her notebook. But I noticed the tenseness in her statements. "Why do you call your parents by their first names?"

By now she was making swirls around her name and still not looking at me. "Well, when I woke up in the hospital that was what I heard first. That's what the doctor said, and logically it made more sense for me to call them that than call them mom and dad. I didn't know them. I didn't even know if they were actually my parents or not."

Wait. "You think they might not be your parents?" She still wasn't looking at me and I was getting a little frustrated. I grabbed the hand she was scribbling with and she stared at mine on top of hers. Both of our hands remained unmoving.

She followed my arm up until she was finally looking at my face, but I wasn't sure what she saw there. She took a deep breath and said, "No, they have all these pictures of me growing up. They're either my parents or the world's best stalkers. I guess either way they deserve me because they put in the work for it."

Her voice was joking but her expression was unreadable. I felt like I was losing her. Like there was a time limit and if I couldn't make her trust me before the buzzer went off she would go back to normal. She would forget about it and just be happy Sakura again. The girl nobody could touch. But I thought she never hid things, at least not that I had ever noticed. I thought she told anyone anything. Looking at her now I realized that maybe all the things she hadn't said, and all the things I hadn't heard were important after all. Maybe I didn't know everything about her, but that didn't stop me from wanting to. "You know, you can talk to me. It's not like I have anyone to tell."

She bit her lip in thought and turned to look forward again before relaxing her shoulders. "I'm sorry if I'm being weird." She started and then turned to me again, "It's just hard for me to talk about them. I always feel like I don't really know them, you know? It's just, all they ever want to talk about is the old Sakura. They spend every night praying one day I'll just wake up and be back to normal." I realized that Sakura wasn't scared to tell people, so much as she needed the okay to do so. She needed someone to tell her it was ok for her to talk about it. For her to even be upset. I tried to concentrate on her words but I kept staring at her lips instead. "I think they were probably good parents to her, but with me, I'm living in my former self's shadow. She was nicer, she was talented, apparently I could sing. They even think she was prettier which I have a lot of trouble with, because we have the same face!"

Now that was weird. "How could she have been prettier than?"

"She wore nicer clothes than well" she pointed to her outfit of athletic clothes and continued. "And she wore makeup like every day."

I liked that Sakura didn't always wear makeup, but I thought that was too weird to tell her so instead I joked, "I mean, maybe you can still sing?"

She laughed, "Sorry, I save my singing for special occasions."

"Oh so the shower and the car?" I closed my mouth quickly hoping she couldn't tell that was something she never told me.

But she didn't notice and just added, "And birthdays. I've really honed my 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow'."

I could feel myself smiling with her and the tension in the air was finally dissipating. "Wait, do you actually sing that song on birthdays?"

She through her head back and laughed, "Never. I'm a strictly 'Happy Birthday' kinda girl. I hate all those other songs."

"Good I was worried I would have to end this friendship." We both chuckled but even the joke of ending whatever this was with Sakura tasted bitter coming off my lips. But I didn't have to tell her that any time soon.

She took a moment to stop and look up at me, her eyes bright and happy. "So we're friends then?"

Of course we were friends, I thought the last two days proved that if nothing else. But I could tell it meant a lot to her for me to say it. I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Try not to get too excited."

She pushed me with her open palm but she was so small it barely moved me. We chuckled again and by now I was starting to feel my chest tighten again and I was struggling to remember my life before Sakura. I looked around the room and it felt like she belonged there. I couldn't conjure up the old images of the dreary walls and untouched furniture anymore. It just made sense for things to be this way instead.

She saw me look around the room and started to do the same, really taking it all in. I wanted to know what it looked like to her. Did she think it was always this pleasant? Did she think we spent holidays together here or we'd sit on this same couch and watch movies as a family? She got up from the couch and went over to a table of family pictures.

I wasn't even sure what was over there. I hardly spent any time outside my room and sometimes the theater room when Naruto came over with a new movie or video game. She picked up a simple black frame and I stood up and walked over to where she was.

Looking over her shoulder I saw it was an old photo of Itachi and me. He had his hand on my head and smiled slightly, but I was grinning. I didn't remember taking that picture, but looking at it now I wished I could.

Sakura put it down and picked up one of my father shaking hands with another man. They were both wearing suits and smiling politely for the picture. I knew this one, we absorbed a small technology company about five years ago and the public spun it as a happy merger.

I realized why she was drawn to the picture of Itachi and me in the first place. It was so out of place with the rest of them. Every other frame was something official looking. Itachi's valedictorian speech, a formal event we all attended last fall, and a very formal wedding shot of the great Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha, and countless shots of My father and brother with clients or at the opening of a new office somewhere. They were all professionally taken and terminally tense. Placed in our house simply to entertain the ruse that we were a happy close knit family.

She looked at the more business related ones again and turned to me. "So what do your parents do? What is the 'country's most successful family corporation' all about?"

"You know about that?" There were a lot of reporters who had taken the liberty of labeling us some sort of great family story. It's a whole rose from the ashes with determination and strong family influence kind of thing. They refer to us as a family corporation because every branch is ran by someone in the family. The more important areas held by the closer family members.

"Oh, yeah, Kizashi talks about it sometimes. He reads a lot."

So Sakura already knew the basics then. I tried to lead into it slowly, cautiously even, not wanting another fight like last time. "Well, we do a lot of things to be honest. We have offices in different regions all focusing on their own directive. I've been working a lot lately with our environmental port. They work heavily with our technology production company but the engineering is focused on ecofriendly exports."

She tilted her head slightly and smiled, "Don't tell me the great Sasuke Uchiha is a vegan, tree hugger who actually cares about the environment?"

I rolled my eyes again. "I don't hug trees and I'm definitely not changing my diet for it, but I think it's important to find the most efficient way to do work while preserving the land we use for it. Killing it won't be more efficient in the long run anyway. I believe that the most we can do for people also stems from keeping them in contact with nature. Humans are animals too, we need the sun and the rain and the dirt the same as everyone else."

She was looking at me thoughtfully but I had no idea what she was thinking. She was smiling and I felt my lips start to do the same ever so slightly. She turned to place the picture back where she had found it and her shoulder brushed my chest. It wasn't until then that I realized how close we were standing and I think it struck her too. I heard her breath hitch and I squeezed my palms by my side trying to keep control.

"Ahem." We both turned shocked to find Yrui standing on the other side of the room with full view of us. "I was sent to get you two for dinner. It should be served soon if you would like to take your seats."

Sakura's eyes were wide and I could tell she was blushing slightly as she said "Of course!" a little too excitedly and hurried past Yuri. _Did she have to seem that excited to get out of here?_

Yuri just smirked to me and I rolled my eyes. But before I could walk away she grabbed my arm and whispered, "I like her. And I like who she makes you."

Then she let go and turned back to Sakura who by now was wandering aimlessly through the hallway trying to determine which way would lead her to the dining room. Yuri caught up to her small form quickly and the two chatted while Yuri led her down the correct corridors.

I thought about what Yuri had said to me few more times as I stayed a few steps behind them. _Yeah I like her too. _

I watched Sakura's bright form move through our dark home and part of me thought it wasn't such a bad sight. That maybe it didn't have to be rare.

We walked through the big swinging door into the dining room. I could see Sakura trying to take it all in and for the first time I realized how impending the dark mahogany furniture seemed and how unnecessary the ornate chandelier was.

I pulled out the chair for her that was farthest from my parents and placed myself across from my mother for the second time today. Normally I craved to be this close to her but right now I wished I could pushed her a few feet farther away from their stares. I felt like a buffer between them, like I could shield her from how awkward this was sure to be.

Dinner was placed in front of us and Sakura thanked everyone who did anything for her. They filled her water glass and asked if she needed anything else and she politely declined. My parents had wine and I wondered why it took me so long to realize that normal families didn't always feel like they were in a restaurant.

After everyone had what they wanted my mother turned to Sakura with her smile set perfectly in place. "So Sakura, I'm glad you could join us for dinner."

I was trying to think of a way to take the attention away from her but she didn't seem to have any trouble answering. "Thank you for having me over. Your home is absolutely beautiful."

My mom seemed excited to have someone who spoke as much as she did and responded with, "So did you two manage to get much work done on that project of yours?"

Sakura was the first to reply between us, "We did actually. Not quite finished, but we could be finished in a couple more days if we wanted. We do have all semester though so we might try and think of something more interesting to do than the standard presentation."

"Creativity is good, uniqueness is hard to forget." My mother added.

My father spoke up by then, "Make sure all the facts are straight before making it too flashy. Itachi had this same project and he finished in a week. He kept it simple and got a fine grade. Uchihas are about efficiency." He took another bite of his robust steak and my mom took a sip of her wine. A sure sign she was thinking of something to say.

"Well I guess we'll have to see how Sasuke and I do before we can make any judgments on that than." Sakura responded politely but with a clear voice. No cowardice.

My father continued to cut his steak unaffected but I knew him better than that. He had heard the defiance. "Besides son, had you not been so preoccupied this weekend I would have had you sitting in on a few meetings. Your brother Itachi was there. He had some great input into the new robotics designs for our kitchen ware department. He even introduced a new idea for music conversion adaptors. He's doing very well, because he knows how to properly use his time." He continued talking about the differences between us for another ten minutes but I managed to ignore the majority of it. Sakura ate quietly, seemingly uninterested but that didn't stop him.

I looked down at the food scattered on my plate. Of course Itachi had come up with the latest and greatest. It's what he did. Don't worry give it a few years to make it through production and then everyone would have it. I was always the first to hear about Itachi's achievements. I was used to it, and normally I had no trouble disregarding it, but in front of Sakura it was uncomfortable. I couldn't stop myself from saying, "I handle my time well father, and I'll be there for the next few." My voice was as close to biting as I could get with him.

But he didn't heed to it. "Itachi actually offered his first set of designs his junior year of high school. He really took to the business quickly-"

"Sasuke is an excellent student." My eyes widened noticeably and I saw my father's do the same. My mother folded her napkin neatly and my father placed his silverware down on his plate. Something I had only ever seen him do once when angry. Our eyes all turned to Sakura who had stopped eating and was looking directly at my father. "He's top of our class, as well as an amazing athlete and the vice president of our school's honor society. Have you ever mentioned that at the dinner table?" Her eyebrow rose in challenge and I had to physically restrain myself from using my finger to push it back down.

_What does she think she's doing?_

My father sat up straighter to her challenge, a habit you master in the business world that seeks only for other's intimidation. "Just what exactly do you think you're implying young lady?" He emphasized the young in a 'respect your elders' sort of way, but I was the only one who knew that would never work against her.

"I can't say it's much of an implication rather I'm simply telling you, based on the portraits in your family room, the conversation at your dinner table and your second's son constant desire for your attention, that your favoritism is overwhelming Sasuke's ability to prosper. And that I don't desire to speak only of one child that I don't find to be any more remarkable than the one you ignore right beside you."

My father's face turned red and my mom moved to grab for his arm but he slammed his fist on the table, the dishes clattering wildly. I clenched my fist together, I looked down at the scar on the top of my hand. This couldn't actually be happening.

"You cannot come into my home and speak to me with such insolence!"

"And why is that sir? Because like everything else you only allow for it to exist under your full control? Now I am sorry for being rude and I sorry for ruining your meal but I will not apologize for the things I have said. You're too controlling on your family's lives and eventually they will all turn away from you because of it. You spend so much time comparing your sons that you don't even realize how amazing the one in front of you actually is. He doesn't even consider the possibility of going to college or making a name for himself because you told him not to, and because his prized older brother didn't either." Sakura was pushing herself up from her seat now with all the force she put behind her words empowering her. "Thank you for allowing me to spend time in your home, I meant it when I said it was beautiful, but I can't sit here and listen to you disregard all of Sasuke's achievements. He's a perfect son to you and he's showed me great kindness." And with that she stormed out of the dining room and back down the hall.

I clenched my fists tighter, this had to be a _fucking joke_. It was all going so well. This was _exactly_ why I didn't let her in for two years. She was headstrong and honest and that just didn't suffice in my life.

After more quick footsteps I heard the front door slam and my mother and I both turned to face my father again.

"Sasuke you are not to bring her back again. She is rude and brash and-"

"Stop it father." The words were out before I could stop them but the part of me that wished I could take them back was quickly stamped out by the part of me that had been waiting to say this. "Don't be so angry because someone finally wasn't scared to tell you the truth." His face contorted back to shock and I continued. "I have allowed you to stuff me under Itachi's shadow for too long and I think we're all sick of it. I'll excuse myself now." I got up, turned away from them, and walked to my room as calmly as I could manage. I clenched both fists until my nails dug into palms. The small indents never deterring me from the action. In my room, I sat down at my desk and put my stereo on again. I pulled out another piece of paper and scribbled hard. _'Dear Sakura,'_ but as I pressed into the page I ripped a whole where I meant to write the comma. I threw the pen against the door watching the plastic shatter, then I balled up the paper and threw that too.

Rolling into my bed I pushed aside the curtain to get a glimpse at the view I had of our U-shaped driveway. Sakura's car was gone, but I'd figured as much. I could drive to her house, apologize, and beg her to forget this ever happened. But there would be no point. It's probably a blessing in disguise. This was just proof of what I knew from the beginning. Our worlds should never have crossed. She wasn't made for people like my father. And I would never wish for her to change that. This was better than us dealing with it later.

I laid back against my pillows and I stared up at my hands. _Clench, unclench. Clench, unclench._ The scar on my right hand turned white then pink, white then pink. I thought of the change in color, and the pink brought the thought of Sakura and I saw her shouting at my father and defending me. I saw her crying while I tried to catch her tears with my thumbs. I even pictured the way I had to resist staring when she was walking in front of me not even two hours ago.

I slapped my hand over my face. God it was_ all over. _I can't picture her like that anymore. This would have been better if I could have gauged out my eyes before I had ever seen her. But I still would have heard her, probably would have fallen in love with the sound of her voice too. Maybe Hellen Keller had more of an advantage then we gave her credit for.

There was a light knock on my door and I didn't recognize it. My father's was always a loud boom three times, Yuri tapped a quick rhythmic pattern. I looked over just as my mother's head peaked through the open space.

"Sasuke, I know you're upset…"

I looked back at the ceiling listening as she pulled out my desk chair and sat on it delicately. "I'm fine mom, don't worry."

"Tell me the truth then, was Sakura the one you actually took out last night?" She got right to the point this time.

I had trouble with her last two words. Was that really last night? This had to be the most eventful weekend of my life. "Yeah, she was." But I couldn't figure out why she asked that question in the first place. Was it even important now?

"Why did you let us believe you took out the Hyuga girl instead?"

I rolled my eyes but I also knew my mom wasn't going to let up. I sat up and hung my legs over the side of the bed, dropping my elbows onto my knees. "Because, when you two thought I was with a Hyuga you didn't question it. She was one of us, it was easy. But Sakura, she's different than all of the business kids, she cares about things and people and she doesn't back down from things she believes in. She could never fit into our world, tonight was enough proof of that. But, I don't know, I was getting used to pretending that she could."

Her eyes were soft and concerned but it hurt to look at them any longer. I glanced down at the carpeted floor before she started to speak again. "Sasuke, you must really like this girl if you've already started trying to protect her from people she hasn't even met."

I mumbled a "You have no idea." But of course she caught it.

"Then explain it to me Sasuke."

I looked up at her again, seeing all the sincerity there. If anyone had been by my side when my father compared Itachi and me it was my mother. Always silently, but she was the one who took the time to check the kitchen refrigerator for my latest grade. She always tried to hug me goodnight or see me off to school when I was younger and she was home. I took a deep breath. "I've liked Sakura Haruno from the first day I heard her speak sophomore year. And my feelings for her have been unwavering ever since." I brushed my hair out of my face nervously but continued anyway. "If I could marry her right now, this moment and keep her for the rest of my life, I would."

Her eyes widened briefly and came down with a sad understanding.

_I most certainly would._


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6-HER

"Sasuke is an excellent student." Crap. You know when your focus is in so many directions that you forget to bite your tongue? Yeah that's where I was finding myself during this meal. Sasuke's father had been going on about Itachi, Sasuke's older and apparently superior brother, and I guess I just couldn't suppress the words. They slipped out defiantly before I could catch them and cram them to the back of my mind where they belonged.

I stared straight into Mr. Uchiha's eyes and he met me back with an intense gaze. I could feel the other two sets of eyes in the room on me too, and I prayed I looked calmer than I felt. The pit of my stomach clenched nervously, I didn't want to start a conflict. After all it really had been so kind of Mrs. Uchiha to invite me to stay in the first place.

But I was just getting so angry keeping quiet while I heard every detail of Itachi's life. Did he design some cool stuff? How nice. Did he start interning his junior year? Good for him. Did I really care how he was charming one of the company managers today? No, I really didn't. But that's not why I was getting so frustrated.

What really ate at me was watching Sasuke's father's words hit him. Each sentence was punctuated with a physical show of Sasuke's pain. His posture had become ever slightly slumped and he kept doing this thing where he would clench his fists. He kept silent, just shrinking down, letting himself get stuffed into the corner while Itachi took center stage of a dinner he wasn't even present for. It was uncomfortable and infuriating. If I knew anything, it was the feeling of not having parental approval. No matter how often you faced it, it never got easier. It was a seed that once was planted, as it clearly had been in Sasuke many years before, was watered everyday thereafter in snide comments and disapproving looks.

When I first came home from the hospital at fourteen, I spent weeks under this constant pressure to do something, anything, right. It drove me wild with tension, talking about myself nonstop, broadcasting the things I thought I was doing that deserved praise. I clung to anything I could use to justify myself. Slowly, I became engulfed by this destructive jealousy of everything. Of people who got along with their parents, people who told stories of when they were kids, girls who looked put together every day. Anyone who I felt had the things that I didn't. But more than that I was actually consumed by this insecurity over the version of myself that Mebuki and Kizashi were always talking about. Someone who literally didn't exist, drove me towards madness.

Eventually I was able to accept that I was never going to be the daughter they wanted. I moved forward. But seeing a form of those emotions in Sasuke was driving me crazy. It brought back those feelings full force, and I wished that upon no one.

After yesterday especially, where Sasuke was inexplicably kind to me, I couldn't stand to listen to such an obvious display of favoritism. This boy next to me, shoulders rigid and stare downcast, was the same one who treated me like a dear friend not twenty-four hours ago. When I was losing to my former myself, he reminded me that others didn't see me that way. So now, while he's losing to his brother, I needed to return the favor. Part of me was craving to show him I could be on his team too.

Sasuke's dad had placed his silverware down, focusing all attention towards me, his mother was folding her napkin, keeping her fingers busy with the deep blue cloth. I noticed the contrast between it and her pale skin, I could feel that Sasuke had ceased breathing. My senses were becoming more alert with the anticipation of a fight. Mr. Uchiha sat up straighter. Should I straighten too? Would that be obvious?

I needed to justify my outburst, but I didn't know what to do, what to say. So I trudged on, "He's top of our class, as well as an amazing athlete and the vice president of our school's honor society. Have you ever mentioned that at the dinner table?" Was that too forward? Probably. The air was so thick with my defiance that I had to remind myself to breathe. _Well, now that I've started, I better finish it._ And with a hidden resolve, my body switched to challenge mode.

"Just what exactly do you think you're implying young lady?" The way he said young made my stare harden. Like I clearly knew nothing. And it set me _off._

"I can't say it's much of an implication rather I'm simply telling you, based on the portraits in your family room, the conversation at your dinner table and your second's son constant desire for your attention, that your favoritism is overwhelming Sasuke's ability to prosper. And that I don't desire to speak only of one child that I don't find to be any more remarkable than the one you ignore right beside you." I spoke so fast that I wasn't sure anyone could understand me. I was bleeding attitude and I wanted my words to burn into him.

It was like fighting a battle after you dropped your weapon. I felt confused and frantic and just a little bit bloodthirsty.

I couldn't tell if this was even about Sasuke anymore. The blood rushed to his father's face so quickly I thought he might be choking. And all at once Mrs. Uchiha hurried to grab for him before he slammed his fist on the table. The thick wood shaking from the blow. I flinched back, and from the corner of my eye I could see Sasuke clenching his fists again. I noticed the habit every time I made him angry. It's what he did when he didn't have control.

It made me feel for him all over again. Sasuke was at least six feet tall, but slumped down, trying to put all this together, he almost seemed fragile. I pictured a younger version of himself, trying desperately gain the approval from the seething man in front of me and I wanted to cry.

Angry, unfair tears burned behind my eyes but I refocused on Mr. Uchiha. "You cannot come into my home and speak to me with such insolence!"

I pressed my palms into the table cloth to fiercely, my fingerprints were bound to be etched into it forever. "And why is that sir? Because like everything else you only allow for it to exist under your full control? Now I am sorry for being rude and I sorry for ruining your meal but I will not apologize for the things I have said. You're too controlling on your family's lives and eventually they will all turn away from you because of it." _The way I turned away._ "You spend so much time comparing your sons that you don't even realize how amazing the one in front of you actually is." I couldn't stop everything boiling out of me. All of my thoughts ran rampant and I imagined I looked absolutely wild. _It's not fair. _"He doesn't even consider the possibility of going to college or making a name for himself because you told him not to, and because his prized older brother didn't either." The more I spoke the louder I became. The entire staff would know who I was by the end of this. As each word forced itself into his ears, I pushed harder against the table to try and steady myself. With all the tension stiffening my muscles I finally just stood up. "Thank you for allowing me to spend time in your home, I meant it when I said it was beautiful, but I can't sit here and listen to you disregard all of Sasuke's achievements. He's a perfect son to you and he's showed me great kindness." And because I didn't know what else to do, I all but ran from the room. There was absolute animosity in my veins for no one in particular. It was the same feeling that I had when I first faced my old self.

_Find your stuff. Get out. Find your stuff. Get out. _

I kept repeating the thought, throwing all of my belongings into my bag and racing towards the door. If I didn't focus on something I would just keep replaying it all in my head. I had to leave. I saw Yuri standing by the entrance watching me. I ducked my head and tried to scurry by her as quickly as I could. She would probably hate me for this.

But as I slid past her the "about time" she let out was unmistakable. I turned back towards her, not knowing what she meant exactly. _About time I left?_

My eyes had glossed over with tears but I could still see her staring at me as she nodded ever so slightly. About time someone stood up to Mr. Uchiha? Or maybe it was about time someone defended Sasuke. Maybe it was both. But for whatever reason, her approval brought me back to reality. The pressure in my chest loosened and I could feel my breathing. I nodded back to her before making my way out of the Uchiha manor.

I started my car rather panicked and willed away thoughts of the awful scene as I drove. I tried to focus on the road or the street signs. I turned up the radio, rolled down the windows, but nothing could shake the images of Sasuke's dad, one of the most powerful men in the city, staring me down.

As I kept on straight, back towards my house, the sun was still setting, colors peeking through the foliage of my neighborhood. It brought on calmness again, and I could only see the image of Sasuke. So hurt and distressed as he just took everything that was happening. I clenched my steering wheel tighter, the way he had done with his fists. There was so much pain in that room.

I tried not to dwell on the things I said. Editing and reediting every moment. I tried to think about school, but that brought me back to Sasuke. I tried to think about soccer but that brought me back to Saturday night.

"_Oh you did stick with soccer? I thought you were going to quit?" _

That stupid guy from the restaurant popped back into my head. Who was that guy anyway? And what the hell was I thinking that I was going to stop playing? I love my sport. It's part of who I am. I could never just stop playing soccer. _But clearly it wasn't part of who I was._

Comparing myself to old Sakura made me think of Sasuke and Itachi again and I just got annoyed all over again. Letting out a huff I pulled onto my street. I slowed down, not knowing if my parent's car would be in the driveway or not. More so not knowing if I wanted it to be. I hadn't seen either of them this morning but that wasn't exactly rare. They had busy schedules, and we kind of avoided each other.

Seeing the silver car parked in its normal spot I knew they were here. I parked on the street in front of my house and took a few deep breaths. Chances I would take all this anger out on Mebuki and Kizashi if I didn't get it under control? _High._

_Be happy. Just smile and be nice and it'll all work out._

Despite popular belief, it took a great deal of work to maintain a positive attitude. I had to consciously remind myself to seek silver linings. To forget the bad and cling to the good. I unbuckled my seatbelt and grabbed my bag from the back seat. Taking extra time to secure it on my shoulders and pull out my keys. I looked up towards the house again. I've done this a lot in the last few years. Just stopped and observed things. I just waited sometimes, for something to stand out. How many times had old Sakura looked at this house? What did she see? Would it have been different if I had known I would lose simple memories such as this?

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that something as commonplace as the house I spent every day in could just vanish from memory. The grass could stand to be clipped again, the large tree off to the side was going to start losing leaves soon, but nothing about it stood out. No image of me scraping my knees or playing in a sprinkler. I didn't even really consider it my home. I felt so out of place here.

I walked up my lawn, letting myself in the front door. Mebuki and Kzashi were both sitting at the dining room table. I tried not to be offended they didn't even text me to ask if I'd be home for dinner. It mostly worked.

"Hello dear." Mebuki's glance in my direction is negligible at best, and her attention quickly shifts back to her husband. She often calls me 'dear' though it really isn't the term of endearment it's made out to be.

"Hello." I hoped the scratchiness that laces into someone voice after they've been crying had subsided, but even if it hadn't they made no show that they heard it.

It was Kzashi who spoke next, cutting his dinner into small pieces. Occupying himself with the back and forth motion so he didn't have to look at me. "How was your evening?"

I gulped down my shuddering and stilled my body as best I could. "It was fine. And yours?"

"Oh fine, just fine." He was bringing food to his mouth now, and staring intently at Mebuki. I wouldn't make them suffer any longer. They always were so uncomfortable in my presence.

"Well, I've got homework to finish." I turned toward the stairs and kept moving.

"That's nice dear." Mebuki added. She didn't ask me if I wanted dinner, didn't ask where I had been. They returned to enjoying my absence instantaneously.

I didn't exactly blame them. They lost their only daughter. It was a tragic thing to happen, and sometimes people just aren't strong enough to face tragedy. I still had a house and necessities. They would help me pay for college and sometimes Mebuki left me money when I wore the same few outfits too many times for her liking. I think they wanted to like me, but they were still mourning the loss of the child they had dreams for. They couldn't accept me, because I was a reminder of where their lives went wrong. By looking at me they saw months of pain and rage and regret.

My room seemed eerily still after everything. I dropped my bag by my desk and slid my feet across the wood. I tried to think of something to cheer myself up. I practiced juggling my soccer ball, balancing it on my foot before kicking it back up to myself, but I was distracted and I kept dropping the ball. Something that I knew Mebuki and Kzashi hated that I did in the house.

I pulled a book off my book shelf, one all about the interworking's of medical advances in neurology and another about amnesia. But I couldn't stay focused and I kept rereading the same lines. I stacked them back up and put them with all the others like them. I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to try to understand what happened to me, and help others who are going through similar experiences. I loved all the research and sometimes when I read about other case studies I didn't feel quite so alone with what happened. But sometimes, on nights like tonight, they just made me feel worse. It would be easier sometimes if I hadn't forgotten. If I could run to my mother's arms and tell her what happened and cry. I bet she'd know how to cheer me up. I'm sure she remembers how she used to do it. I let out a long sigh and tried to shake the mental image.

Eventually I gave up on distracting myself and got ready for bed. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, all the while wondering if old Sakura used to do the same thing. I tried to make those thoughts vanish. I _like_ who I am. I'm _proud_ of who I am. But I sighed as I pulled back my covers. _In the morning, things will be good._

But lying in bed, I felt the emptiness of where Hinata had been the night before, rehashing every moment of our double date. I thought about how yesterday, I had become sort of infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha, and how today, I may have destroyed what resemblance of a friendship we had. Was all this even worth it? I had wanted to get close to him so I didn't have to always feel bad about old Sakura. I wanted to keep the tradition alive so my last year of high school wasn't so overwhelming before I went off to college. But after everything, it seemed like it was having the opposite effect. I sat up and pulled my red journal from my back pack and flipped it to the last entry about the date. I wrote the date at the top and summarized my day in one sentence.

'_Nevermind, Sasuke hates me.'_

But then I thought about how small Sasuke had looked in those moments at dinner and how I couldn't keep control of myself. For whatever reason, it seemed I was already too invested in him.

But that would change now. Why would he ever talk to me again? I had just made everything worse. I couldn't fix my home life, I have no idea why I took a shot at fixing his. I dropped the journal onto the ground and got laid back down. I pulled my pillow over my face and screamed. The muffled sounds reminded me of how empty my room felt again and I just wanted to cry all over again.

Emotional exhaustion started to seep in and the headache that came with it was too overwhelming to confront. I prayed for sleep.

When my five a.m. alarm went off I opened my eyes groggily. But once they were open I was awake. Exhausted, but awake. My eyes were puffy and my body was stiff and all the memories of yesterday came flooding back. I pushed myself up and sat on the edge of my bed and tried to think about something else before I was permanently trapped in them. I forgot to pack my bags the night before so I should really be rushing to get ready for practice, but I just stared into space for a few minutes. Everything felt dense around me, and the nerves of seeing Sasuke made me feel sick.

I slid to the floor and dug through my drawers for anything even remotely acceptable to wear to practice. The air was chilly so I slid on shorts and a long-sleeve. I tied my running shoes loosely and stuffed a clean uniform into my bag with all my other stuff. It would have to do for now. I couldn't bother to think about what I may have been forgetting and I was already running late because I couldn't make myself move any faster.

By the time I made it to the field I had just enough time to tighten my ponytail before we warmed up and ran suicides. After that practice was pretty easy. We did push-ups and planks, but then coach let us do relay races to boost our spirits. It didn't stop all my thoughts, but it helped to be with friends. Tenten and I showered quickly but when I was getting dressed I realized that not packing the night before was a serious mistake.

"Hey Tenten I'll catch you later, I forgot my tights."

"Oh man good luck, avoid Kureni, she can always tell." She was still brushing her hair out but I caught her eyes in the mirror.

"Thanks." I stuffed my cleats into my bag and took off.

Digging through my locker I kept thinking if I moved enough stuff out of the way eventually my backup pair would be there, even though I don't remember Ino ever giving them back after she borrowed them.

"Forehead why are you freaking out?" _Thank god!_

"Ino!" I whirled around so fast she actually took a step back. "Chances you have extra tights?" I gave her a hopeful look before she laughed and opened her locker.

"Hmm, will knee highs work?" she asked holding up her back up socks.

"Knew I could count on you!" I slipped off my shoes and reached for the socks just before she pulled them out of my grasp.

"Not so fast. Don't think I've forgotten about how you blew off my phone calls yesterday morning. Tell me about your date or no socks."

I rolled my eyes. "Ino, now's not the time, were gonna be late."

"If only someone had thought about that before…" she had that evil look in her eyes and I just wanted to wipe that dumb smirk off her face.

"Fine, you will get the full lowdown after I'm fully clothed." I said, raising my eyebrow and sticking out my hand.

"Perfect!" she practically squealed. I proceeded to slide my feet into her socks, leaning back against the lockers for balance. "And don't look now, but looks like it must have gone pretty well."

I looked up to see her eyes fixed on something down the hall. I glanced over and caught what she was talking about. Sasuke and Naruto had been down by their lockers, but now as the two were walking towards class Sasuke's eyes scanned up my body. His eyes took me in, when they flicked up to meet mine I was so confused my breath caught. This was a good sign right?

But before I could say anything to him he turned back to Naruto and chimed in to whatever the blonde had been babbling about. I tried not to stare after him but I had trouble brining my eyes back until Ino finally said something.

"So it looks like it didn't go quite as well as anticipated."

"Actually Ino," my gaze drifted back down the hallway but the boys turned the corner and were out of sight, "it did."

Her face scrunched up in confusion and I knew I wasn't going to find a way out of this one. "So then, what happened?"

"I well, I kind of blew up on his dad yesterday when we were having dinner and pretty much called him heartless."

I'll hand it to Ino here, she really took a moment before she started to freak out, "Doesn't his dad control like half the city?"

I bit my lip almost to look like I was thinking about it before I said, "uh yeah, yeah he does."

"So you mean to tell me you insulted one of the most important people you'll likely ever meet?"

"That appears to be the case."

Ino let out a long sigh before finally giving in to her natural state, "What the hell were you thinking forehead?"

"I wasn't! Not at first anyway! It kind of just happened! His dad was droning on and on about his brother and it was making Sasuke uncomfortable and then I started thinking about all my issues with my family and you should have seen him he just looked so hurt and vulnerable, can you believe Sasuke Uchiha could look vulnerable?" I knew I was babbling, but I didn't know how else to get this all out before I got upset again. "I just couldn't stop and then I ran out of the house and went home. It's gonna be so messy now Ino, we were finally hitting it off. We were actually getting along so well and now he's not even going to acknowledge me." The tears had started to come back but I took long slow breaths until they subsided. Ino took in my rant with understanding eyes and a sad smile.

Wrapping her arms around me she added, "So when did you start liking him?"

My eyes went wide and I wasn't sure what to say exactly. "I don't. I mean I thought I did, after our date, and a little the next day when we were at his house. It was all just so perfect and light hearted, but now, he probably won't ever talk to me again."

"That doesn't mean you don't still have a thing for him." She added.

"Ino I don't, maybe I was starting to because I was just so used to him being a jerk that when he was being nice it seemed like something more, but it wasn't. And it doesn't matter if he barely talks to me now." I pulled myself out of her grasp and leaned against the lockers.

"Who won't talk to you again?" Shikamaru asked walking up and throwing his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. Hinata joined us a few moments later asking to be filled in too.

Ino was the one who recapped for me. "Sakura got in a blow out with Sasuke's dad last night and then today him and Naruto just brushed by us without so much as a nod."

Hinata was the next one to speak, "Naruto didn't say anything to you? That seems rather unlike him."

"Well if someone had embarrassed any of you guys in front of your parents I sure wouldn't say 'hi' to them in the hallways." I practically grumbled out.

It was actually Shikamaru that made me feel the best though, "Don't worry. Naruto is as loyal as they come. He'll stand by Sasuke's side, but honestly he isn't a fan of his father either. He's probably just trying to keep Sasuke calm."

"Can Sasuke be anything but calm?" Ino asked. "In the last four years I don't think I've seen him frazzled even once."

With a sigh Shikamaru added, "The guy's still human."

"I think," a very quiet voice came out and we all turned to face Hinata, "that if anyone can fix it, it would be you Sakura." And she gave me a small smile that made me feel a bit better and just a little guilty.

"Alright enough about me, Ino I'm sure you're dying to hear about how fantastic Hinata's date was." Hinata's eyes widened at that.

Letting out a breath the blonde continued my thought. "Oh so glad you said that, Hinata I'm dying for details here, spill."

Hinata's eyes shifted a little towards Shikamaru in a show that she was uncomfortable with his presence. Something he immediately picked up on.

Shikamaru gave Ino's shoulders a small squeeze, kissed her temple and then through his hands up in a show before stuffing them back into his pockets, "This is all too troublesome for me anyway. Have your girl talk about my friends and leave me out of it." He stalked off to first period without us and we all giggled and followed behind him at a safe enough distance that Hinata could talk about Naruto in peace.

The three of us sat together and Hinata rehashed all of the events that evening. Her stutter came back particularly strong around the part where Naruto kissed her goodnight. I couldn't help myself, I turned to look at Sasuke. He continued to stare down at his phone. He hadn't looked at me once since I walked in and he made no move to talk to either of his friends in the room.

It made me wonder where I went wrong. Was it yelling at his father, or was it way before that when I agreed to go on a date with him in the first place? Maybe it was the first day of class, when I wanted to sit next to him and he said no. Maybe that was all the sign I should have needed to stay away from him. That we just weren't meant to ever be more than acquaintances.

The day passed slowly. As time went on I just felt more and more awkward letting Sasuke ignore me. Normally I would have demanding he talk to me, a couple weeks ago I did just that, but today, it wasn't right of me. He deserved time to feel however he felt about me for messing up an already fragile relationship. But that didn't make it easier to disregard his anger. We shared every class, and when our teachers were talking I always found myself thinking about Sasuke and how we were getting along. Sure, we had only really been friends for what, three weeks? But when it was just the two of us going crazy from reading too long or I was complaining about my hand cramping up, Sasuke's guard came down a little. We could joke about how bad he was at finding library books and the proud little smirk he got on his face when he was able to locate one before me. It wasn't common of course, but it was cool to see the side of him only Naruto had ever witnessed.

Some strange part of me missed how completely innocent he looked reading my private journal as if it didn't matter at all he was invading my privacy. Or how quick he was to wipe away my tears on Saturday. At lunch I barely ate before the bell rang for the second half of the day. Shikamaru and Ino both sat with me trying to cheer me up about the signs they were making for my tournament next week while I moved some peas around the tray. Hinata was sitting with Naruto while he talked her ear off, but Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

By last period, when I was sitting in front of the guys I was weirdly on edge about everything. I would keep trying to sit up straighter or look really enthralled by our lesson, as if either of those things would make Sasuke think 'wow, I didn't see Sakura there before but now that she's an inch taller in that chair maybe I'll talk to her after class and explain of course I'm not mad about what happened.' But feeding into my delusions was just getting to be too much.

When class ended Naruto caught up with Hinata and Shikamaru asked Ino to get ice cream before her cheer practice, even Tenten was going over class notes with Neji, but Sasuke had made a quick escape. I walked toward my locker without waiting for the others to catch up. I had been moping to them long enough. I just wanted to go home and sleep, math homework be damned.

When I did make my way home however I noticed I wasn't alone. My parents were both home from work early. The two were blissfully in the kitchen talking and they hadn't noticed my presence in the house yet.

I could tell from how freely they spoke to one another. It was Mebuki first, "Maybe we should go away for a week. See my mother. She really misses the family since they moved her into that home."

Kizashi added, "I think that would be a great idea, we could all go, catch up grab lunch, spend time with family. Sounds very relaxing."

The thought of going away was so enticing I practically ran to the kitchen. "That would be so much fun!" I added. It's the most excited I've been about anything all day. The thought of seeing my family. It had been so long since I had visited any of our cousins. Before the accident I think the family had been close but ever since we haven't done much travelling in the last few years, and when we did, Mebuki and Kizashi always went alone. But maybe they were so energized from their weekend with my aunt that they thought it would be a good idea.

Mebuki practically jumped at the sound of my voice and Kizashi's eyes widened when I entered the room. It was the former who spoke first, "Dear, I didn't realize you were here."

"Sorry to have scared you, but when are we going to see grandma?" I didn't really remember much about her but she had been really sweet the couple times we had met after the accident. The thought of seeing everyone again felt so promising.

The two exchanged looks and were trying to find the words to tell me something. Better yet, I think they were trying to decide if they should lie to me or not. Kizashi spoke next, "well you see we thought maybe it was best Mebuki and I go see her mother. She's just transitioned to a new home and maybe some friendly faces would help her adjust. But see, you don't really have a relationship with her anymore so it would be quite awkward for her and we don't want to add pressure to the visit." He said it all so matter of fact. Like of course I wouldn't go, all I could do is be added pressure.

"But you said _all_ of us could go." I replied, but I had already put the pieces together. She meant the other parts of the family could go. Aunts and uncles and cousins, everyone. Just not me. They started to open their mouths to give me another series of bullshit but I beat them to it. "No, actually that's better, I have a soccer tournament the next weekend and it wouldn't make sense for me to miss that much practice."

It was Kizashi who added, "Great, glad that's settled. Probably best for everyone." He gave me a forced smile and under most circumstances I would have left it at that.

But today I was pissed. Today I was alone and upset and just plain hurt. So I did something I hadn't done in over a year. I turned back to face them, though both had mentally dismissed me from the room already, and said, "I can see that being away from me for the weekend really brightened you two up. So glad you had such a successful trip." And then I left the room, where I wished I hadn't caught their last words before I made it to the stairs.

Kizashi was comforting his wife, and through the door I heard a soft trace of the words, "She goes off to college soon enough…"

I tried to pretend the words didn't hurt, but the tears pricking my eyes said otherwise. I squeezed my eyes shut and fought back the sensation of crying. I sat in my bed and pulled out my phone.

_Maybe if I could just get out of here._

But I knew that wasn't possible. Not without anywhere to go. Hinata's dad was insanely strict about guests on school nights, and Ino had late afternoon cheer practice. There was no way I saw spending the night at Shikamaru's, we had gotten close, but once he started dating my best friend there were boundaries I couldn't cross. I scrolled through more contacts and stopped on Sasuke's name. But there was no point. He clearly wouldn't answer.

Why would he? After today, any sort of relationship I thought we might have been developing was clearly fallacy. Something I was making up to feel good about myself. How real could any of it have been if after our pseudo date, when he talked to me like I was the most important person in the world, he completely snubbed me? Even if I thought he might kiss me that night, even if I think I would have let him, it didn't matter now.

I put my phone down and tried to brainlessly finish the homework I had, but nothing I wrote made any sense and the entire act was exhausting me. When I had finally had enough I just watched old movies on my laptop until finally going to bed.

The rest of the days continued to pass this way as the week went on. Tuesday had been less confusing, as I had at least known what to expect from Sasuke, and Wednesday and Thursday the rawness of it all faded a little. Mebuki and Kizashi had been packing their bags, and soccer was just nonstop give and go drills and three man weaves. Ino and Hinata were both seeing their partners and perspective love interests regularly, usually to get lunch after school and work on their projects. Most kids didn't accomplish as much as Sasuke and I did so most of the class was still obsessing over the criteria. Honestly I wouldn't have been this ahead of the game myself if it weren't for my pushy partner.

By Friday however, I was about finished with feeling guilty. I was isolated at home, my friends were wrapped up in other business, and I just didn't have time to waste part of my senior year moping around. I was going to get something out of the Uchiha today.

In first period he sat in his normal seat and our teacher got right into the latest section of our novel we had been reading. I wrote down the name of the book and doodled around the edges but I was too focused on coming up with a plan to participate in the discussion of plot and theme.

When class ended, I was up and to the door before Sasuke had even finished zipping his bag. I waited just outside out of his sight, and when he, Shikamaru and Neji walked out I came up beside him quickly. "Are you finished pretending I don't exist yet?"

He looked down to me but made no effort to answer me.

I tried again. "Look we're so close to being finished with the project that I'd like to just get it over with and not have to worry."

He didn't look at me the second time but he did respond with a quiet but firm, "It's finished."

Crap. I had to keep going until I could think of a better excuse. "Well I need to proof read the essay and we need to practice running through the slides. I won't turn anything in that I haven't thoroughly checked."

Sasuke looked like he wanted to roll his eyes but he refrained and simply told me he'd email them to me before picking up the pace with his long legs and pulling away from me. I let out a deep sigh to myself. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but did I have to pick the most stoic boy in the grade.

I sat through math taking semi decent notes and tried again when class was over. Sasuke seemed surprised by my second attempt at getting through to him but he barely faltered at dodging all of my reasons for him to speak to me. Barely, being the key word. See in the weeks of studying together and the couple sweet moments we shared, I realized that Sasuke Uchiha could be read. You just had to know what you were looking for.

His emotions were in the slight twitch of his jaw and the arch of his eyebrows. They were the direction he shifted his eyes to and when he clenched his fists. He was not the robot everyone thought him to be, and his exterior wasn't as hard as everyone thought it was.

_Which meant I could break it down._

Two more periods went the same way. By the fourth time I followed him to class he was used to my antics and knew to keep his pace quick enough to get away from me. But I also knew he didn't enjoy looking like a fool trying to speed walk away from a girl, so he only started picking up the pace when he had confirmed sight of me.

I would have sat with him at lunch but he made sure to make himself scarce yet again. So after fifth period began my latest attempt at getting Sasuke to listen to me. I waited out of plain sight so he wasn't moving too quickly yet, and grabbed ahold of his backpack. This only seemed to make him angrier though as he moved faster than he had all day. I looked like an idiot just being wildly and haphazardly pulled down the hallway, but he hadn't gotten away from me yet so I was considering it a success. "Sasuke I am a varsity right forward for the soccer team, if you think I can't keep pace while holding on then you are seriously mistaken."

His annoyance at my presence was a given and I'm sure the extra weight on his bag wasn't helping either. He just powered through it, ignoring me, but luckily we had a long walk to the other side of the school and my stamina was just fine. I caught Shikamaru's eye and reading my mind he grabbed Neji and the two of them slowed down, letting me and Sasuke pull ahead of them. By the time Sasuke noticed we were alone it was too late.

"Sasuke really, we both know you're going to listen to me eventually, so just ease up already and let's start with the forgiving."

Finally he stopped and pulled into a side hallway, one that only had lockers and no classrooms. There were few people around so it seemed as private as we were going to get. "What do you need to tell me so badly? Our grade will be fine, do you have any other reason for harassing me?" There was a menace to his voice and it startled me into jumping back a little.

"I-I just" His stare was intense and I needed a breath before I could continue. "I don't know Sasuke, I just thought we were getting along really well and we were almost friends and I was just trying to stand up for you, I don't get why you're still mad at me."

"I didn't need to you stand up for me, I can handle my father on my own." His eyes were piercing and it almost looked like he was breathing a little heavier.

"Well it sure didn't look like it." I was struggling to keep my voice down in the small hallway.

"You don't know that world Sakura, and you don't know me. We're not friends, we never were. I tolerated you because we had a project to work on, now it's finished. So our time together is over." He was clenching his fists again which meant he was definitely upset. His knuckles started turning white from the pressure.

Tears were forming in my eyes from all the hurtful things he was saying. _Did he really not think of me as anything more than someone to do homework with?_ But then I realized something. "You're lying."

"No Sakura, I'm not. We aren't friends. I don't have room for dramatics in my life. I have enough to focus on—"

"Stop lying. That night, our date, that Sasuke cared about me." It was barely a whisper but he heard me. More strongly I added, "Whether you want to admit it or not were definitely more than project partners and you know it. So just be honest for five minutes and tell me what I have to do to make this right. I won't apologize for what I said to your father Sasuke. He was wrong. I was only trying to be there for you. Maybe I could have been nicer about it but you Uchiha's make me so mad. I said everything I said because you're my friend, and friends defend each other."

"But I never asked to be your friend Sakura. Not once did I ever act like I wanted you in my life." He was doing that clench and unclench thing again. His eyes were shifting a little too much, he was scanning my face for a reaction. He was definitely lying.

"You wanted me in your life when you cornered me about that date."

"That was for Naruto." He snapped back.

"Then Naruto would have asked me. But he didn't. You did. You made it happen even though I had clearly been avoiding you. If you wanted an out from being in my life that was your chance." I was speaking so fast, scared that if I didn't get everything out he would never hear it,

By now the late bell had surly rang and we were bound to get in trouble, but I wasn't going to take a single step until we had finished this. "You don't get to decide who stays in your life Sakura, it's a two way street." Both of our breathing was heavy now and we both stared at each other, neither of us ready to move.

"Then tell me Sasuke, why did you care when I cried during that movie?" The words were sharp but full of emotion. "Why did you always make sure I had a safe ride home from the library?" His glare was softening and I continued on. "Why did you talk to me like someone who loved me?" and I knew we were both thinking about Saturday when I stated crying. "You said I was someone who showed you how to make the best out of a situation. That's not something you pick up from studying together for a few weeks. You care about me, and face it, you've never hated me."

Sasuke took a few deep breaths, trying desperately to find something to say. Finally he just started to rub his temples and I saw the tension leave his shoulders. "Fine, we're not just project partners ok? I was getting used to you being around. But that still doesn't make my family despise you any less. Which means it's best for everyone if we just don't talk to each other anymore."

I thought about what he said for a long while before I responded. "No."

He looked shocked again, well as shocked as Sasuke can look. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean no. You said it yourself, it's a two way street, you may think it's best to just avoid me but I don't."

"Sakura you don't understand who you just pissed off. My father can ruin anyone he pleases. It takes a few simple phone calls and he gets anything he wants. You want to be a doctor. You want to go to a good medical school and do great things. If we continue to make him angry, he'll make sure that doesn't happen. That's what businessmen do, they take anything they desire and brush off the people that get hurt in the process. They don't care."

"You do."

He looked confused, "What does that matter?"

"You care. You and your brother are going to be in his position one day, and you care about the people you hurt. Not all businessmen are bad."

"No, just all the ones I've ever interacted with. Because the nice ones, they get absorbed by companies like my father's." He was giving me that serious look again, but this time it was because he actually cared about me.

"Then let me handle your parents. And you just agree to stop avoiding me. Hang out with me today. Let me look over the last of the work you did." He looked like he was really battling a lot in his head over whether it was a good idea or not. So I tried one last time, I put my hand on his arm, right around his elbow and made sure he was looking at me. "I'll even make snacks."

At that I saw the hint of a smile on his face and the Sasuke Uchiha actually rolled his eyes at me before saying, "Fine, we can go to your place. But you better have tomatoes."

He started to turn away from me before I realized what he had just said, "Wait, tomatoes? Seriously?" and I had to catch back up to him.

On the walk to class I pulled out my phone and called our principal Tsunade. Students weren't exactly allowed to have teachers phone numbers unless there was a reason, but after my accident I had a lot of trouble adjusting back to high school. I often sought refuge from the first few particularly overwhelming weeks in her office. She let me arrange files and help out in order to get out of class and interacting with other people sometimes. She was far easier to get along with than my own parents. Which was something she happened to notice. She has had a soft spot for me ever since.

When I heard the soft sound of a phone being picked up I immediately went to suck up mode. "Tsunade, hey, it's Sakura."

"Yes Sakura, I'm aware." She sounded tired but amused as usual when she had to field phone calls from me.

"I was going to ask a small favor."

"Why do I have a feeling you're abusing my trust in you right now?" She asked me.

"Well, I was hoping you could call into Gai's class for me and explain that Sasuke Uchiha and I are going to be late but are on our way." I asked oh so politely.

"And why the hell would I do that Sakura?"

"Because I'm your favorite student and you got free manual labor out of me for like six months sophomore year. Please I really can't get detention." I threw in.

"Sakura it's one thing if you had a problem and you want me to help you, but whatever were you doing with that boy that is causing you to be late to class?"

"We were finishing up a project! I swear, nothing bad was happing, we just needed to work out a few minor details and were finished, but you know how bad it will look if we both walk into class late and I really don't need those rumors spreading." I tried to be sweet to Tsunade because deep down she really did care about me and she wanted the best for all of her students. She wasn't exactly a traditional educator. If you needed an extra day for a paper she didn't see the harm in it. If you had issues in your personal life, it wasn't wrong to take a day off every once in a while.

That's how I knew she was going to help me. "You swear to me young lady that you two were not sneaking off to do things I wouldn't be happy about? Because I can check the video footage Sakura." She could, but she wouldn't.

"We had to work out a disagreement in regards to a homework assignment. It won't happen again I promise. I have never asked you to be dishonest before."

She thought for a long time before agreeing to make sure we didn't get into trouble and telling me never to have her bail me and a boy out again.

I assumed I never would.

Sasuke, who I had almost forgot was watching the whole thing seemed rather entertained by the entire bargain. But when I went to explain to him he simply said, "I know you're close to the principal, I just didn't realize how close."

"We spent a lot of time together over the years. She used to always let me get out of class. She was only skeptical because you were involved."

He simply grunted "She likes Naruto too." and before we came upon Gai's door. Walking into class just the two of us definitely got us a lot of attention, but Gai was just hanging up the phone when we walked in.

"Wow, you two got here quickly, that was Principal Tsunade telling me you were on your way. Very impressive. Please have a seat." And he immediately went back to whatever figure he was labelling on the board.

Sasuke and I took the two closest open seats, one of which was being saved by Ino for me, and pulled out our notebooks. Ino immediately grabbed me by the arm under the desk and silently demanded to know what was going on.

In my notebook I scribbled,

'_We finally figured things out.'_

She seemed to accept that for now and since Ino was very aware of my relationship with our principal she asked no further questions. Replaying the conversation with Sasuke in my head however I realized something else I might need from Ino and scrawled out another message.

'_I might need your help with something.' _

She took one look at it and in her purple pen she wrote right under: _'Anything. But I want details later.'_

I smiled to myself. Same old Ino.

When we finally finished classes for the day I was totally relieved to be surrounded by Ino and Hinata again. Naruto was walking Hinata to her locker so he walked with us too, and with him Sasuke wasn't far behind. Shikamaru was waiting Ino at her locker so very quickly our three became six. It seemed everyone was relieved to see the end of whatever was going on between Sasuke and me.

It was cool though, to see that we could be a group. That we could all get along so well and spend time together. It was strange to think that as natural as we all felt together that we had never managed to all hang out before now. When we got to our lockers however, Ino shooed away the boys so she could get complete details.

She turned to me first, "So let's hear it."

I smiled, because it was so Ino. "It's his parents. It's not that he hates me, it's that he's scared his dad is going to try and destroy my future if we continue to hang out after my less than ladylike outburst against him."

Ino's face dropped at the thought, "No way, can he do that?"

Hinata was the first to answer though, "Yeah, he could, she'd have to leave the country to be successful and even then it could be difficult. You don't have to control every company to have a hand in them."

Ino looked back to me, "But you have to admit, it's a little romantic. Do you think maybe he's into you? He's not really in the game of defying his parents, so he ignores you to protect you, and now he's seeing you despite them?"

"Well, I told him I was going to take care of his parents. Which is where you guys come in actually." I smiled brightly to my two best friends.

Ino smiled playfully and nudged me with her elbow, "Well you know we'll help you hide the bodies." Which is all she had to do to get a laugh from me.

Once all books were exchanged and the three of us were ready, we met up with the others at the doors and broke off into our pairs.

Sasuke and I walked to the parking lot to our respective cars. We agreed he was going to follow me home, so I pulled out and made sure to give him ample time to get in line behind me. I sang to the radio and couldn't wipe the smile off my face on the drive home. I couldn't believe how much easier things seemed with him talking to me again. With the weight of it off my shoulders everything seemed brighter. The leaves more vibrant, the air lighter, the sun warmer.

When we pulled up to my house Sasuke parked behind me on the street and met me at my car before I even finished grabbing my backpack. Being alone with him now felt oddly natural. It didn't feel forced now that he had admitted he liked having me around. It didn't seem like I was always trying to get him to talk to open up, now his silence could be welcomed. Walking up the front lawn however, I realized Sasuke had never seen the inside of my house. It was nothing compared to his entire estate, and I wasn't sure what we were going to do. Usually the downstairs was pretty clean, per Mebuki's request, but would it be better to just sit at the dining room table so we didn't disturb anything? Or maybe we should hang out in the kitchen. Kitchens are safe. They're casual and they have food in case things get quiet.

Once I unlocked the door I immediately made my way to the kitchen to get started. Sasuke followed behind me and watched me very intently with something akin to a questioning look on his face.

I answered his silent questions with, "I promised snacks remember?" I started pulling out crackers and cheese. I also pulled out tomatoes and tried to think of what we had you could put with tomatoes. I ended up making a less than elegant looking tray of bruschetta, but Sasuke seemed far more interested in the tomatoes themselves so I held one out to him.

He took it from my hand with a smirk. "Clearly not one for presentation."

I was so relieved to hear him cracking a joke that I laughed a little too hard. "Okay, let's just get set up in the dining room and I can proof read our paper and make sure everything is finished. Carry the snacks would you?"

After about an hour of reworking the sentence structure of the paper with Sasuke I thought it flowed strongly and created a descriptive enough background that the information was easy to understand. Sitting together made it easy for us to understand where the other was coming from and rewrite our points so everything was clear. The entire experience was going great. I scooted my chair closer to Sasuke to get a better look at the computer, and I realized working with Sasuke was far easier than it used to be. He smirked when I couldn't think of obvious words and I laughed every time he peeled apart my snacks so he could always just eat the tomato.

Once the paper was completed he switched over to the PowerPoint and I noticed true to his word, most of the loose ends I was worried about Sasuke had already skillfully taken care of. I was busy scrolling through a few slides when my parents must have walked in. I didn't hear them, but they made themselves known quickly. It wasn't until they were in the room faces contorted in anger that I realized something was wrong. "Mebuki, Kizashi, is everything ok?"

Mebuki's arms were crossed tightly over her chest before she answered "No, I'm afraid it isn't. We did not give you permission to have a boy over here. You live under our roof and you should be respect of that."

She couldn't be serious. But then Kizashi continued with, "If you want to entertain your boyfriend you can go be wild somewhere else. We don't condone such behavior in this house."

Did they just insinuate…? No way. "We're working on a class project not getting it on, on the kitchen table." I couldn't keep the horror out of my voice at their implication. Sasuke seemed completely collected but then again this probably wasn't the most hostile of situations he'd ever been in.

Kizashi continued, "We expect that you keep strangers away from this home and that you think about your morals because clearly they could use some questioning."

My mouth dropped, this was most likely the worst possible way this could have gone. "My morals are just fine thank you. Working on a class project is completely within my ethical code. Or would you prefer I failed?"

I had already started closing the computer and packing up Sasuke's belongings before they could get another awful accusation out. But Sasuke didn't seem so frantic. He rose slowly and looked at both of them directly before saying, "It's quite alright Sakura, the Uchiha manor is a much more suitable place for us to study anyway."

Before I could even begin to rave about what a terrible idea it would for me to see his parents a second time would be, Mebuki and Kizashi had processed the name. "Wait, as in Uchiha Incorporations? You're the heir to the company then?" my father almost stuttered out.

The mood of the room took a sudden turn and Sasuke simply said, "Yes, that would seem to be the case." He was looking down on Kizashi then and I took a moment to stop packing everything away. "And I would greatly appreciate it if you would be so kind as to not assume that I would come from a family that 'gets wild' when they have been invited into a home."

Mebuki tied to recover, "No, no of course you wouldn't, it's just Sakura is alone here so often and just very uncontrolled, we wouldn't want you to feel pressured or anythi— "

"How dare you?" I was so stunned that I couldn't control the words that came out of my mouth. "To pretend that I'm some promiscuous wild child in order to save face because you found out he's an Uchiha? What is wrong with you people?"

Sasuke was the one to answer, "Clearly Sakura, they know nothing about you." He spoke to me, but his eyes remained ferociously locked on my mother's. "Maybe it would be best if we take our leave."

I had so many things I wanted to say but I couldn't decide which sounded the least irrational, and before I knew it Sasuke had grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door. I let him pull me along, so stunned that I didn't protest when he led me to the front seat of his car and got in himself. I didn't even notice when he revved the engine and pulled away from my house. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't pick up on where we were going and found myself very confused staring at the large stone building of our high school.

"Sasuke, what are we doing here?" I looked around but most of the parking lot was empty, being that it was Friday evening and there weren't any home games this weekend.

He didn't say anything, just got out of the car and came around to open my door. I climbed out of the car quickly and followed him behind the building to where the fields were. He brought me over to the equipment shed and looked to me. As a captain of a varsity sport I had the code to the padlock that would open the doors, but this was not what I was expecting. We had been advised not to take advantage of the schools resources unless it was before a big game. They were worried recreational use would cause us to lose our already limited supplies.

"Sasuke, we're not supposed to take out equipment unless it's for training." I looked down at my outfit, "Besides, I'm still in my skirt and I'm not really up for it right now."

Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned against the big metal doors. "I brought you here because it looks like you need to kick something." He said with a shrug.

I had never seen Sasuke Uchiha shrug before. It was an odd gesture on someone usually so serious. Shrugs were care free, they were light and go with the flow. They were nothing like Sasuke. Which showed me he must be trying really hard here.

Sighing, I sauntered over to the lock and put in the code. Sasuke pried open the rusty doors and the two of us found a bag of soccer balls discarded off to the side. He took the liberty of lugging it onto the field and dumping the contents out in front of the goal. He lined them up perfectly, never taking his eyes away from the task at hand.

I watched him curiously. After all, it wasn't every day you could get someone to go from not talking to you, to helping you let out your frustrations over getting called a whore.

If Ino had been there she would have taken me shopping or for ice cream. Hinata would have insisted upon a movie to take my mind off of things. Even Shikamaru would have put an arm around me and told me not to let things bother me. But this, going to the school at dusk to kick soccer balls, was definitely different.

Sasuke finished what he was doing, laying each ball a couple feet apart, before he turned to me. "Well," he gestured to all the balls laying out, "do your worst."

He was looking right at me, and his dark eyes were reflecting the setting sun behind me and for a moment I thought I could see something in them. I smirked a little to him, then returned my attention to the real task at hand here. Kicking off my shoes and setting myself up behind the left most soccer ball, I took two big steps and swung my leg. This was something I could do. This was practiced, this was engrained in my muscle, and this was something no one could take away from me. Not Mebuki and Kizashi, not the daunting thought of medical school, not even the Sakura I had once been. She gave me this body to do with it as I please, and it was with her that this all began. So I watched the first ball sail away from me so energized I didn't even wait to see where it went before moving to the next one.


End file.
